Mr. Speaker, there is a number of very specific initiatives in the budget: $54 million for community futures; $160 million to connect rural Canadians to the Internet; a $2.6 billion infrastructure program, a large portion of which will go to rural Canada; and $30 million to assist our natural resource industries both in forestry and mining.
Most important is that the budget recognized that the circumstances of rural Canadians were different from those of urban Canadians. Unlike the Reform Party there is a recognition that government will work in partnership with rural Canadians, communities and businesses to better the lives of rural Canadians.