Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to participate in the budget debate. I express gratitude to the people of Fredericton and in fact to all Canadians for the sacrifice and the patience they have shown in the last five or six years as we have attempted to deal with the deficit we inherited upon taking office in 1993.
In order to understand the 1999 budget, we have to go back at least that far and recognize that in the sixties and seventies, with all the best and noble intentions, federal and provincial governments of all political stripes attempted to bring about regional equity in terms of economic development in Canada. I would also hasten to add that for the most part most of these programs worked.
I take some offence to those who would suggest that this entire exercise that has been characterized as the welfare state has not been a success. In a vast majority of cases it has been very successful. But the country's economy did not grow at the rate that was anticipated, and as a result we were not able to sustain the rate of growth of some of these social programs. Very quickly it affected many Canadians in a way we would rather not have happened, but Canadians understood their responsibility, Canadians understood what government had to do and they made some very serious sacrifices. We owe Canadians a debt of thanks.
We have been able to make those programs sustainable into the next millennium. We have been able to deal with the deficit which we inherited. The 1999 budget is here and the deficit dragon has been slain as many have said and we are looking to reinvest around two fundamental areas. The first fundamental area around which we must invest is wealth generation. The second is to determine the appropriate way in which the wealth that is generated serves the collective and public good.
The government with this budget has demonstrated our position that economic growth in Canada will accompany a shift away from what for the last 100 years was almost entirely a resource based economy to a knowledge based economy. Hence there is a significant investment in all kinds of research. There is research around pure science, applied research, information based research, research in the social sciences and humanities, public policy and program research. Health research has been mentioned by any number of speakers to this point. There is also health care best practices and research into the new demographics and how we are going to deal with the aging population.
My own constituency of Fredericton has a significant IT industry employing thousands of engineers, computer programmers and others in the knowledge based industries, and that is growing every day. In fact our unemployment rate is 2% better than it was in 1993 and that is in the face of tremendous restraint as a provincial capital, not only the restraint that was exercised by the federal government but also a period of restraint by the provincial government.
I commend the Greater Fredericton Economic Development Corporation and Jacques Dubé who works with our municipalities, the province, the cities and municipal councils of Fredericton, Oromocto and New Maryland, with the chambers of commerce and the local labour development board, and most important in the face of the need to invest in knowledge and research, the universities, UNB and St. Thomas. I also have to pay tribute to ACOA, the regional economic development agency, for its foresight and good work. It assists universities on a regular basis in a way which I think very often is unappreciated by some members of the House.
The best example I can think of as the kind of economic development opportunities that will spring out of this R and D is a small project at UNB. It was announced in the last six months. It was financed through the transitional jobs fund, which has been characterized in other less flattering ways as a program by other members of the House. In this case the transitional jobs fund was used to invest in a metal detection research project at UNB. When items go through the metal detectors at airports and other places, it can be done with more sophistication.
Mr. Speaker, I am reminded to mention that I am splitting my time with the Secretary of State for Science, Research and Development and Western Economic Diversification.
This project has already created jobs in Fredericton. It presents a wonderful opportunity for the kind of economic growth our region needs if we want to move beyond our traditional position of not being at the national average in numbers of unemployed and so on.
Our region felt the impact of the last five or six years more than most because we were so heavily dependent, whether it was on national defence or transfers from the government. Therefore, when the federal government went through a period of restraint we felt it more than anyone else.
It is important for us to take our place in line as we reinvest. We have dealt with the deficit and are dealing with the debt. As we reinvest it is very important that our region makes its case for the kind of investment that will allow us to step away from the traditional transfers that are so often associated with Atlantic Canada.
On the question of government spending and the quality of life issues, it is obvious that the Government of Canada heard Canadians. That is the reason it has made the significant investment of $1.5 billion in health care.
I have to remind the House, particularly when I hear members of the Reform Party and Conservative Party talking about the money that is being restored is money that was cut earlier, in the 1995 budget where the reduction in transfers to the provinces was announced, the official opposition had the opportunity to present a motion of non-confidence in the government. At that time significant cuts had been announced in terms of correcting the imbalance between revenues and expenditures.
However it was not the cuts which caused the Reformers to suggest non-confidence in the government. In fact, at that time the opposition said that the government did not cut enough. I remember this specifically because I was the chair of a caucus committee that was concerned about the CHST and the impact on our region and on provinces with less resources. Notwithstanding the current debate in terms of the health care system and so on, when those decisions were originally taken, we must remember the position of the opposition at that time.
As we talk about the 1999 budget, in addition to what has been announced, we have also invested in children through the national child benefit. We have invested in students through the millennium scholarship fund. We have invested in research at the universities through the innovation foundation. We have increased the CHST, the first time by $1.5 billion and we have increased it since then by an additional $11.5 billion.
This is important to recognize because when the reductions were made in 1995 they affected universities, they affected welfare and they affected health. When we are talking about the money that has been restored, we have to talk about the money that has been restored for health, post-secondary education and welfare, all of this before the 1999 budget which has reinvested a significant amount of money.
On top of this, we have provided low and medium income tax relief. We have invested $375 million in the quality of lives of the members of the armed forces. This is very important to me as I represent CFB Gagetown in my constituency. We have invested $400 million in the criminal justice system.
I would like to offer my congratulations to the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister for supporting the Minister of Finance and to all Canadians who have been the source of the sacrifice and the determination that has allowed this to happen.