Mr. Speaker, just before question period I outlined a remarkable list of items that the Prime Minister had achieved in his first term. I talked about the historic health care deal and the historic equalization deal; the support for child care, seniors and 5,000 more peacekeepers; the new deal for cities; the $1 billion for new environmental technologies; the brand new Canada Corps; our work in Darfur; our peacekeeping aid to Haiti, Afghanistan and Africa; the Canada-Mexico agreement; our work toward solving AIDS, malaria, TB and polio; the Prime Minister's remarkable international movement to protect those citizens who were under attack by their own governments; his work on getting the G-20 together to help solve international problems; the learning bond; the increase in the ceiling on student loans; the historic new relationship with aboriginal peoples and the historic Canada aboriginal peoples round table and the signing of new land claims and the encouragement of more.
I was also telling the finance minister how important it was to not only fund and sign new land claims but to make sure sufficient funds were available to implement existing land claims in Yukon and elsewhere.
This is already an unprecedented list for the first year of any Prime Minister but I want to go on and talk about the Prime Minister's democratic reform. It is amazing how the House has been reformed since the new Prime Minister has allowed free votes in the House on the government side on most items. For members who were here in the last Parliament they will remember that everyone was talking about reform and now we are not talking about it at all.
Ottawa society has to get used to the fact that it does not matter if the government loses votes because that is democracy. The members on the government side now have free votes. It is a whole new atmosphere of democracy here.
Another exciting historic initiative which perhaps sets our government aside from all others is the new northern economic development plan and the new northern strategy that was announced just before Christmas with many cabinet ministers outlining a new look at the north and its place in Canada.
While there are all these expenditures to help those in need and to give hope to millions of Canadians, we still have sufficient fiscal control and organization to give the largest tax cut in history of $100 billion. This is especially important for low income people because a lot of the tax cuts were aimed at low income people.
Last night I, along with a number of parliamentarians, attended the play Danny, King of the Basement . I commend the actors, the writers and the National Anti-Poverty Organization for putting the play on and for bringing forward the problem of child poverty in Canada, which we must work toward eliminating.
These tax cuts reduce the taxes for families with children in Canada by 27%, which is another way to help bring many of those children out of the poverty cycle.
The government has also created one of the most important social programs in history since medicare and that is the national child benefit. The government is constantly increasing that so that by 2007 it will be up to $10 billion. There are all sorts of other initiatives in this economy of hope for people in need: initiatives for people with disabilities, $1 billion for affordable housing, the new horizon program for seniors and the enhancement of our programs for the homeless. We have made these expenditures to help millions of people in all segments of Canadian society with the issues of the day.
Have we been able to still keep the country in fiscal balance and be responsible for the economy without bankrupting the country? The answer of course is yes, through prudent fiscal management. Granted, it does not leave a lot of room to manoeuvre to provide extra tax cuts or other expenditures but it certainly is done within a very solid and responsible fiscal framework.
Approaching and including the time of the Prime Minister's great new economy of hope, we have created three million more jobs in Canada in the last 10 years. Since 1997 we have led all the G-7 countries in growth of living standards. Low interest rates in Canada have led to a housing boom. We have not and we will not go into deficit.
We have had seven consecutive budget surpluses. Canada is the envy of the prosperous countries in the world. I do not think anyone in the opposition or in the media could deny this unprecedented agenda and these accomplishments in only one year of a new Prime Minister's time in office.
However because of the limited room to manoeuvre we cannot provide large tax cuts. There is no huge surplus to do what people would suggest. We must remember that we have a large national debt in the order of just under $500 billion and we need to contribute toward that. That is what has led to the success of all these programs. Because of cutting down the interest rates we have billions to spend on Canadians in need.
I will finish my speech where I began it, which is that we awoke one morning to the news of a tragic tsunami. All Canadians reaffirmed and recognized that others were in much more need. That is the economy of hope. It is a program designed to help people around the world and in Canada who have need of it.
I am proud to be a Liberal because our philosophy is to have a strong economy so that we can help those in need. I am proud of the Prime Minister and the government which created this incredible success in the first year of our mandate.