Mr. Speaker, I am really delighted that the hon. member asked that last question with respect to the 2000 five year tax reduction plan. It totalled just over $100 billion. Two-thirds of that was personal tax cuts and two-thirds of that was directed to the lowest income Canadians. That constitutes balance. That constitute fairness.
On her question about the definition of surplus, what is anticipated and what is unanticipated, I dealt with that at some length in my remarks, indicating that our standard budgetary objective is to balance the books and to run a surplus of $3 billion, the contingency reserve, which is then applied to debt reduction. Over the last number of years that has served the Government of Canada and the people of Canada very well. In fact, we are now saving more than $3 billion every year because of interest charges that we no longer have to pay.
Our definition of unanticipated surplus for the purposes of this legislation is any surplus that exceeds the $3 billion mark. Over the last seven or eight years, it has in fact exceeded $3 billion on a number of occasions. This legislation thereby provides the framework where, rather than letting the situation just go by default, Parliament will have an opportunity to have a say.
The hon. member questioned the spending restraint decisions that were taken in the mid-1990s and the impact of those upon various programs. Obviously that restraint did have an impact.
I would point out that the reductions in transfers to provinces which began in 1995-96 were always less than the restraint that the Government of Canada imposed upon itself. Indeed those restraint measures were entirely restored by 2001. Today the transfers to provinces are at an all-time record high. They are scheduled to increase by another $100 billion over the next 10 years.
On the international front, I am very pleased to say that in the 2005 budget we have provided the largest increase in foreign aid ever at $3.4 billion. We will double our aid to lesser developed countries around the world entirely by about 2011-12. We will in fact double our aid to Africa by 2008. Foreign aid is a priority of this government.