Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to the members for Prince George—Peace River and for Calgary Southeast. The member for Prince George—Peace River said tell the story, tell the whole story, we are not shooting straight.
I listened to the member for Calgary Southeast. Not once in his remarks did he offer any constructive alternative. Leadership is all about dealing in hope. The reality that Canadians surely understand is that six years ago we had an unemployment situation of 11.4% when we assumed power. When this budget was announced it was 7.8%.
I am not proud. None of us are proud of that 7.8%, especially in remote areas of our country where we have unemployment numbers far in excess of that and especially the huge numbers related to youth unemployment.
Let us be candid. We cannot be proud of those numbers. When we talk about dealing in hope, we talk about where we were six years ago and where we are heading. What is the trajectory of where this government's financial plan is headed? I believe the Minister of Finance has the trajectory going the right way.
Very few Canadians realize that one of the things we have had to do in order to create an economic climate that would cause businesses to invest in Canada and those businesses here to further invest was create a climate of stability, a climate where those jobs that have been created in the last few years, almost a million and a half, would remain.
That does not happen unless the expenditure plan of this government came under some control. Quite frankly I am surprised that the Reform Party does not take credit for this. The reality is that because of the pressure of Reform in the last six years in my humble opinion the cuts around here have been so drastic in so many areas. This was done all in the name of putting the fiscal framework of this country back together. I think quite frankly that we have gone in many cases away too far with the fiscal discipline in this place.
In this budget we are just beginning to see a return to a sensitivity toward some of those things that really built this nation. We are beginning to replenish the health care system in this country.
By the way, I say quite openly, I still think we have a long way to go. The reality is we had to do it in the context where at the same time we could keep the economic confidence of this country moving forward. We all know how fragile economic confidence is. I think the Minister of Finance has been faced with a very tough balancing act. He has had to get that trajectory of fiscal responsibility going the right way but at the same time we all know that average Canadians, low income Canadians and seniors have carried an awful lot of economic pain on their backs.
As I said earlier in my remarks, today is the day when we should be dealing in some hope. The member for Calgary Southeast should have stood here today and acknowledged the fact that the fiscal framework was heading in the right direction.
I agree with the member for Calgary Southeast when it comes to comprehensive tax reform. I totally agree. I think this is one issue for parliamentarians in all parties. The separatists have already said in committee if they ever did become a separate country the first thing they would do is have comprehensive tax reform. I believe the economy is going so well now, even though there are better times still needed, that separatism is almost dead.
I spent last week in Quebec City and it is hard to find a separatist. They are all coming home. They are all coming back to the reality that Canada is a much better place whole than divided. That to me comes from an economic climate that is improving.
I stand in the House today satisfied that we are heading in the right direction. Do we have to do more? Yes. We have to do a lot more, especially in Atlantic Canada. We have too many young people in Atlantic Canada who have absolutely no work and there does not seem to be any opportunity for work.
I know the Reform Party calls it, not patronage, but pork barrelling. I would be proud to push, press, prod the Minister of Industry to move some of that innovation money to Atlantic Canada where those highly educated young Atlantic Canadians could get involved in computer programming, creativity, computer manufacturing and become a leadership section of Canada in the whole realm of information technology. Would I take $1 billion and move it to Atlantic Canada and reinforce that sector out of the information technology fund, the knowledge based fund? I would do it in a second. I know the Reform Party calls that pork barrelling. I do not call it pork barrelling when we see a region of this country that needs extraordinary help because its natural resource fell away from it through no fault of its own. That is what I would do about that problem of youth unemployment in Atlantic Canada.
I say to the members across the way that we still have a long way to go, but the fact of the matter is we are seeing all kinds of hope right now. The fiscal framework is moving in the right direction. The health plan is being replenished. There are actually little sparks of hope for comprehensive tax reform in this budget. There was at least an attempt by the Minister of Finance to get lower income Canadians off the tax rolls. It did not go far enough in my opinion, but those are the kinds of things that a constructive opposition would acknowledge and then complement with some specific ideas of its own.
So far here today I can honestly say that all I have heard have been dealers in gloom. That is not leadership. They should be dealers in hope and they failed that test today.