Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question from my colleague from Sackville—Eastern Shore. In answer to his question, absolutely yes.
The policies of that government, including free trade, the elimination of the manufacturers' sales tax, which is a euphemistic way of saying the implementation of the GST, the deregulation of the financial services sector, the transportation sector and energy sector were all pivotal in the economic growth that we have seen in the late 1990s. This is not just my opinion. The 1998 global preview of the Economist magazine stated that the structural changes made in the Canadian economy in the late 1980s and the early 1990s had resulted in the Liberal government's ability to reduce and ultimately eliminate the deficit. It then went on to list those initiatives.
Deficit reduction began back in 1984. The leader of Her Majesty's Official Opposition, the Reform Party, said in the House that the deficit reduction effort in Canada began in 1984 under the government of Brian Mulroney. The deficit as a percentage of GDP was around 9% in 1984 and was reduced to about 5% by the time that government was politely asked to leave office in 1993.
Tax reform has considerable political risk and the GST was an example of that. It is very difficult to market a new tax, the GST in this case, even though it was replacing the manufacturers' sales tax, when only 17% of Canadians were aware that the manufacturers' sales tax existed in the first place. Instead of the government of the day replying on pollsters and focus groups to develop economic policy, it realized that the manufacturers' sales tax was killing jobs in a global environment that engages and embraces the opportunities of free trade.
Instead of accepting the status quo because of politics, that government had the courage to face the opportunities of the future and implement what was and may still continue to be an unpopular tax. However, it was the right public policy then and has helped to lead to the economic growth that has benefited all Canadians and in particular the gentlemen and ladies opposite in the Liberal government.