Mr. Speaker, we know that developing and implementing a budget is a continuous process. As I said, we need to build on our strong fiscal performance. In 2003-04 we will record our seventh straight surplus. I am sure we will have another surplus again in 2004-05.
While the other parties opposite might argue that this is a bad news story because we have not predicted them precisely every year, I look at it as a very positive story. When we have surpluses we are able to pay down the debt. We cannot forget about the fact that we still have a federal debt exceeding $400 billion. Under the mandate of this government, we have paid down about $60 billion against the debt, but we still have more work to do. Because of that paydown in the debt, Canadian taxpayers are saving over $3 billion a year in money that would be otherwise used to service that debt. That is a $3 billion annual annuity that the federal government can put toward other priorities of Canadians.
While other members are concerned about the inability, in their judgment, in the government's ability to forecast these surpluses, the Minister of Finance has pointed out quite astutely that with a 1% deviation on the expenditure side coupled with a 1% deviation on the revenue side, suddenly the surplus is out by $3 billion or $4 billion. In the world we live in today, of increasing uncertainty and volatility, it is easy to understand how surpluses cannot be precisely forecast each year.
However, notwithstanding that, it is still a good news story. It has to be a good news story that we are coming up with surpluses, not deficits. Where are we that we have to attack the fact that we are having surpluses and that we are paying down our national debt?
Our economy has grown consistently at levels around 3%. In fact, we have performed very well. We have a very low interest rate environment that is good for businesses and Canadians. People in rental properties are getting out and buying houses or duplexes. They can take on a mortgage because it is affordable.
We have had the largest tax cut in Canadian history in the year 2000. When we had this debate the other day, the members opposite said that it was not really a $100 billion tax cut. It was. The reason they argue that is they are absolutely incredulous. They did not think a Liberal government would address taxes, but we did. Have we more work to do? Of course we do. Will we do more? Yes, I am sure we will. The fact is it was a $100 billion tax cut, the largest tax cut in Canadian history.
The members opposite argued that we put the indexing back into the tax system, which had been taken out to deal with the budgetary deficit. We re-indexed the tax system. In other words, a Canadian typically would have been paying more tax had we not done that. This is a tax measure that results in lower taxes for Canadians.
The parties opposite also, especially the Conservative Party, argued that the measure we took with respect to the Canada child tax benefit was not a tax cut. It was not a tax cut for wealthy Canadians. It was not a tax cut for big business. For the average family, a poor and middle income family with children, this has been a huge benefit. That is a tax cut because many of these people, while they would have only been paying modest taxes, were paying taxes. These were tax cuts. This is the largest tax cut in Canadian history.
I believe we need to do more in terms of the disposable incomes of Canadians. The members opposite argue that because Canada pension plan premiums have gone up that it is a tax increase. That is a fallacious argument, and they know it.
When a person invests in a pension, it has nothing to do with taxes. It has to do with a contributory pension plan system where the employee puts in money and the government puts in money, and that helps to secure the retirement plan of all Canadians.
The fact that Canada pension plan premiums went up has nothing to do with taxes. I would agree that it has something to do with the take-home pay of Canadians. The disposable income of Canadians is an issue we have to be mindful of all the time because we do want money in the hands of Canadians. It is good for the economy. It is good for economic growth.
We need to be mindful of the productivity gap between ourselves and the U.S. We need to ensure we are investing in innovation. We need to ensure that we are mindful of and focused on productivity issues vis-à-vis our major trading partner, the United States.
However, having said all that, the performance of our economy is the envy of the world. People look at our economy and say that Canada is a fiscal miracle.
Just today, for example, the numbers came out on unemployment. Of course we do not like to see any unemployment. Any unemployment is bad. However, it is down to 7%, which is the lowest it has been in four years.
We have to stay the course. We have to stay out of deficit, clearly. We have to keep churning out surpluses. We need to keep paying down the debt. We need to be investing in innovation. We need to contain expenditure.
The parties opposite talk about how expenditures have grown out of line, in terms of the size of our economy. I would agree that we need to be mindful of the levels of expenditure, but the reality is that some 80% of the additional resources that the federal government has been spending have been going to the priorities of Canadians, investing in such things as health care, education, social programs and an innovative economy. We do need to ensure that our expenditures stay in line with the growth in our economy. I would agree with the finance committee's recent report. It made that sort of recommendation as well.
One of the things that our government is very proud of is that we have delivered our commitments. As a government we have made a number of commitments over the last while. The budget will have to incorporate those commitments into our fiscal plan.
The one that is very important in the minds of all Canadians is health care. With the health care accord in 2003 and the additional moneys that were put into the health care system, it comes to an investment by this government of about $37 billion.
We all know that money is not the only solution for a health care system. It is one of those areas where we could keep pouring money. Notwithstanding the importance of having a sound health care system, we must have it managed better. We need to have it managed as a whole system.
When I travel around, I see so many examples where we are not managing our health care system as a holistic type of system. There are elderly people sitting in acute care beds because there is no place for them to go. They do not need the special care and attention of an acute care hospital, which by the way costs us as taxpayers maybe $1,000 a day because of all the services, equipment and highly qualified staff. We cannot put these people in lower cost institutions because the capacity is not there.
This is something the provinces and territories have wrestled with for years, but we still do not have it right. We will never have it perfectly right. We know that. However, we need to do a better job of ensuring that we have people in our health care system at the right level because it is better, in terms of patient care
If we have elderly persons sitting in intensive care in a hospital and they do not need that level of care, they would rather be in an outpatient program, or they would rather be at home. It is better for patient care and certainly better in terms of health care economics. It is better for the taxpayers of Canada.
While we need more money for the health care system, our government has consistently poured money into health care, as I said, $37 billion most recently. We need to and have agreed with the provinces and territories that there is going to be greater accountability, greater transparency, more reporting on benchmarking in terms of performance and standards. As a result Canadians in Saskatchewan can look at their province and compare it with what is going on in Yukon or in New Brunswick and can ask whether they are getting good value from their tax dollars.
We have made some major commitments with respect to cities and communities. We started last year by exempting municipalities from the GST. What does that mean? I will tell the House what it means in a city that I represent, the city of Toronto. By exempting the city of Toronto from the GST, which happened last year, it saves the city of Toronto $50 million a year. Some will say that is peanuts. I am sorry, but $50 million a year where I come from is a lot of money.
That is just the start because our Prime Minister and government have committed to give a portion of the excise tax directly to municipalities. I am happy to see that because in my province of Ontario we have seen, not so much under the regime in place now in Queen's Park but under the Harris and Eves government, a lot of programs devolve to the municipalities.
We saw that municipalities were going to have all these new responsibilities and new programs, but they forgot to transfer the resources. What we are going to do is transfer those resources directly to municipalities through a portion of the gas tax. This is being negotiated as we speak.
I would like to see that negotiation reflect the fact that large cities like Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and many others have unique challenges. They have unique challenges with respect to public transit, air quality, and a whole host of issues with respect to social programs, such as the homeless.
We need to deal with rural communities as well, but they have different problems. When we say one size fits all, we may be politically correct but we are missing the boat. We need to understand and target our programs to the unique needs that are there.
I am a big fan of dedicating this tax and sending it directly to cities because in the city where I live we have some challenges. We have some problems. I have seen air quality diminish over the last 10 years. We see a lot of homeless people. We see urban sprawl.
I was very glad to see the Ontario government finally taking some action with respect to urban sprawl in Toronto because there are communities expanding and growing, which does not lend itself very much to public transit. We need to get higher population densities within the city centre and that will create more opportunities for public transit. That will make our air better and life easier in cities like Toronto.
We have made some commitments to the learning and child care programs. I know the minister is working on that with the provinces and territories. I know that a lot of women in my riding have come to see me to say they need child care in the province of Ontario. We could not get any child care programs going because the Harris and Eves government said it was not participating. Now we are saying to heck with that, we are just going to do it. With the government in Queen's Park now we think we are going to have a more cooperative and sharing environment to do that.
We have recently concluded some new arrangements with respect to equalization dealing with the offshore oil and gas revenues of provinces like Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. That has to be built into the budget.
I would like to see something in the budget with respect to Kyoto. We signed the Kyoto accord. I know there was a lot of debate by members on both sides of the House. Some argued that greenhouse gases and climate change are not a problem. I do not believe that. I think that climate change and greenhouse gases are a problem and that we have to invest.
The difficulty I had when we signed the Kyoto accord was how we were going to meet this objective. I do not like to sign anything or commit to anything unless I can deliver it. We have some challenges on this very front. I would like to see in this upcoming budget some economic instruments that will encourage--