moved:
That this House approves in general the budgetary policy of the government.
Mr. Speaker, on this the first day of the Chinese New Year, I am tabling the budget documents, including notices of ways and means motions, in both official languages. The details of the measures are contained in the documents and I am asking that an order of the day be designated for consideration of these motions.
I am also announcing that the government will be introducing bills at the earliest opportunity in order to implement the measures announced in this budget.
Let me begin, on behalf of the government, by expressing our appreciation to the Standing Committee on Finance and to many committees and caucuses for the valuable work they have done in the lead-up to this budget.
Let me also express our gratitude to the great number of Canadians who have come forward to present their views. The sense of civic responsibility they have shown now falls to us to respect, to balance the sound perspectives they have advanced, as we prepare together for a new century.
It is an inescapable fact of life that a budget always brings with it its own special vocabulary. We talk in the languages of rates and ratios, of percentages and decimals, of accounting methods and measures.
What all of this obscures is what budgets should be about.
It is to make the lives of Canadians better. It is to improve their standard of living.
It is to build today for a better tomorrow. For budgets are about more than entries in the books of a government; they are chapters in the progress of a people.
Canadians have always understood that the turnaround from the excesses, the high indebtedness of the recent past would not be as fast as any of us would like; that the challenges posed by rapid change are substantial, and that the bar set by globalization is very high. Canadians knew, therefore, that a long-term plan was needed.
Five years ago, we put that plan in place. Today, it is working. And thus our responsibility is clear. It is to build on the success of previous years. And with this budget, we are.
This budget demonstrates that the finances of the nation are now in better shape than they have been in a generation, and that further progress lies ahead. It is a budget that acts strongly on the highest priority Canadians have, strengthening their system of health care for today and tomorrow.
It is a budget that continues to equip Canadians to succeed in the 21st century.
And it is a budget that for the first time in many years offers tax relief to every taxpayer and it does so without using borrowed money.
The past year has been one of extraordinary economic uncertainty, a volatility that has demonstrated that no country today can shield itself fully from global turmoil.
However, the past year has proven as well that the steps that Canada has taken to strengthen its finances and its economy are paying off.
There is no doubt we have felt the effect of the storm. As a result of the Asian crisis and its repercussions, our growth slowed from the robust pace of 1997 and early 1998.
Canada's west, particularly our forestry, energy and farming sectors, has suffered.
Yet it must also be recognized that overall the damage has not been as severe as it might have been, as severe as it would have been only a few years ago.
For example, job creation has been very strong. More than 450,000 new jobs were created last year, the large majority full time and in the private sector, exceeding even the impressive pace set the year before. No other G-7 country, not even the United States, has matched our record.
This strong job performance has continued in 1999, with 87,000 jobs created in January alone. This pushed the unemployment rate down to 7.8%, still too high but its lowest level in almost nine years.
Furthermore, job prospects for young people have improved significantly. Over the past 12 months youth employment grew by 10%, over 200,000 jobs, the best performance in over 25 years.
This year, in terms of economic growth, both the IMF and OECD expect Canada to be among the top performers of the G-7.
This is not to say there are no risks. Very clearly, there are.
The world is a long way from having the kind of architecture that will prevent or minimize economic crises in the future. We may have a global market. But we do not have a global framework to make it work for people. For Canada, putting this framework in place is a priority.
At home, the priority is also clear. We must equip Canadians to succeed in what remains an insecure world.
As we continue to implement our plan, it is important to reconfirm the principles that underlie it, the values that we seek to sustain and strengthen.
First, the government's deficit may be eliminated but we must never eliminate frugality from government.
There will be no rewind to the reckless spending of other people's money.
We must and we will govern as if every dollar counts because every dollar does.
This budget demonstrates that. Program spending as a percentage of the economy will decline from 12.6% this year to 12% by the year 2000-01, its lowest level in 50 years.
Second, we must never lose sight of the need to be balanced in our approach.
A successful society does not run on one cylinder. We must respond to the reality that success on one front requires action on several.
Third, we must never shy away from the need to make choices. A government with too many priorities is a government that has none.
That is why, for example, health care, knowledge and innovation constitute fully three-quarters of the new spending announced in this year's and last year's budgets, the first two in the era of balanced books.
Fourth, we must set aside any notion that acting in isolation is a sign of strength. It is not. In today's world, power lies in partnership. Canadians have the right to expect that their governments will work together.
Therein lies the importance of the social union framework signed by the Prime Minister and the premiers two weeks ago.
Fifth, we must focus on the longer term. Some of the greatest problems of the past arose when governments gave in to short term pressures that threw them off course. If we are not to lose our way, we can never lose sight of the far horizon.
Finally, and most important, we must always be fair. If, at the end of the day, it is said that the books of Canada are better, but the lives of Canadians are not, we will not have succeeded.
The test of good government is not to protect privilege for the few. It is to provide opportunity for the many.
Our country has finally left the era of deficit financing behind.
Last fiscal year, the federal government recorded its first budgetary surplus in over 28 years.
As this fiscal year draws to a close, this March 31, it is clear we will again balance the books or better.
This will mark the first time in almost half a century that the federal government will have recorded two balanced budgets or surpluses, back to back.
Moreover, this budget confirms that we will balance the books or better next fiscal year and let me announce today that we will also balance the books or better in the year 2000-01.
This means four consecutive years of budgets in the black. This is only the third time this has happened since Confederation.
Of even greater significance, we will enter the new millennium as a country no longer saddling generations to come with a legacy of ever-increasing debt.
For well over a generation, Canada's debt to GDP ratio rose relentlessly. However, two years ago, as a result of both our action on the deficit and an economy that was growing, it began to fall meaningfully.
Last year, Canada's debt to GDP ratio recorded the largest single improvement in over 40 years, falling from 70.3% to 66.9%.
This year and next year, we expect it will fall still further and by the year 2000-01 our debt ratio will be under 62%.
Looking beyond that, our commitment is to keep it on a steady downward track year after year after year.
Now, all of this may well sound arcane, some statistical addiction of economists, or perhaps even finance ministers, far removed from the day to day concerns of Canadians. But nothing could be further from the truth.