Mr. Speaker, over the last 10 years that I have been in the House I have never heard the opposition suggest there is a perfect budget or a perfect answer to any question the government puts forward.
We all realize its job is to criticize and try to find practices and policies which it feels the average Canadian would disagree with. One of the things I have heard over the last couple of days from my constituents is this is a pretty good budget. This is a plan that is moving our Canadian culture and society forward in many different ways. If we stop and think about it, it does hold a tremendous amount of positives for all Canadians.
I would like to examine three areas of the budget that are very important to all Canadians. The message that comes forth in my view is we have a rock solid economy which is the foundation by which business, social programs and all that we stand for as Canadians can advance. Clearly that rock solid foundation has been built by the cabinet of the Liberal Party, by the finance minister and by the members of the House. I want to make it very clear it was a combination of all members here as well as Canadian society in general who have told the House, the finance minister and the government what directions they would like to see in this budget.
The process has changed dramatically today compared with what it was 10 years ago. Thinking back 10 years when I first came to this House a budget leak occurred the night before the budget was to be released. Suddenly, from the Conservative government, all the budgets were sent out and everybody ran in circles and nobody knew what to do because it was a very secretive process, a process in which Canadians did not have a great deal of input and as a result I guess there was a tremendous amount of dissatisfaction at the end.
We have changed that process dramatically. Today we are very transparent. We are very open in consulting Canadians. As a matter of fact, the premier point that I can make with this budget is there was nothing new. Canadians knew what was coming down in the budget long before the budget day announcement. They did not know the fine details, but they certainly knew the direction in which this government was heading because of the consultation process.
In my view, that probably is the number one change that has occurred to make Canadians a part of the process and therefore Canadians are very happy with the result of the process as well.
Three areas I want to touch on are the rock solid economy and how that is helping the Canadian economy grow, investment in social and economic priorities, and the substantial, fair tax relief.
When we think about this rock solid economy that we are building today and in the future, all we have to do is look at the process over the last five years. We had a $42 billion deficit to tackle in 1993 when we were elected. Through very tough programs, through very difficult decisions Canadians worked along with the government to make sure we did not bankrupt this country and leave our children and our children's children in dire situations. The process was to eliminate the deficit and get our house in order. No one in the House can question that putting our house in order was a priority that had to be done.
We paid down the deficit and now we are in a position where we are starting to pay down the debt. The debt to GDP ratio has had the largest decline in 40 years in this past year, which went from approximately 70.3% to 66.9%. What it really means is that we are getting to a point where we can better afford the debt we have. With the growth the country is experiencing we will be in a much better position not only today but in future years.
We have done all we can to support business and make sure business has opportunity to grow in this country and expand beyond our borders.
For technology partnerships, for aid to business support in technology areas, this budget put $380 million. For the Canadian Foundation for Research in which we are moving research forward, helping universities, helping technological growth in the Canadian foundation as well as teaching hospitals which then feed off into our social net, $800 million was placed.
We all know the successes we have had in working with foreign markets, developing opportunities for business to expand beyond our borders, making Canada a world trader and making sure that we have stable businesses in the future.
At the same time, over this period of four or five years, interest rates have been on a constant decline. There is no question that interest rates have afforded business the opportunity for greater investment, to move forward and to grow. As a result our economy is rated number one in the G-7. That is not frivolous. That has happened because of serious careful planning which has made a huge difference.
I remember the former government during the 1993 election campaign stating that unemployment would remain in double digit figures until well beyond the year 2000. That was not quite accurate. That was a quote from a former prime minister. She said very clearly that unemployment would remain in double digit figures at least beyond the year 2000. Today, unemployment is at 7.8%. This drop in unemployment tells us something about the social values of the country because there is no greater move to ensure social stability than ensured jobs for Canadians.
We have not been able to answer every social problem in the country, but we did not start out under the best circumstances either. The distance we have gone, from the comments of my constituents, is tremendous. They are very thankful for the kinds of policies and issues we have moved forward.
Investing in the social economic side of things is another important issue. We know when we looked at the figures over the last several years that youth employment was terrible and we had to improve it. That is why over the last several years we have focused on a youth employment strategy. This year, next year and the year after we will be putting $465 million into youth employment strategies, which will give young people opportunities to develop job skills, to develop scenarios of work, and to develop the skills they need to become active participants in Canada.
It is also very important that tax relief has been included in the budget. That tax relief is for all Canadians. I look forward to the questions.