I will, but I will be honest and factual at the same time.
I am proud to be here now, when we are in an era of surpluses and we can move forward to embrace the opportunities of the 21st century.
First, I would like to talk about those early days. Many of my colleagues were also here in 1993. They could tell the House what it was like.
Seven years ago this country was at an economic low. Nine years of the Mulroney government had played havoc with our federal debt. Estimates indicated that within eight years the debt had increased by $250 billion.
We were also left with a $42 billion deficit and we had to pay 33 cents of every revenue dollar to the interest on the debt. This was not paying back the debt, it was just the interest on the debt.
Unemployment was at 11.4% and high deficits and the resulting pressure on interest rates had affected, adversely I may add, economic growth and job creation. If this cycle had been allowed to continue Canada would have been in very, very bad shape. It may even have hit the New Zealand wall that everybody talks about.
As a government we made some pretty tough comprises and prioritized, down to the absolute detail I might add, and thought about the sorts of things that were important to Canadians. With the economy now gaining momentum and new jobs and opportunities available to us we are optimistic and we are ready for the 21st century.
A couple of months before the budget was announced I asked my constituents what they thought these investments should look like. The informal survey which I sent out asked them to list in the order of priority where they would like to see budget dollars spent. I received approximately 200 responses. The top three priorities—