Mr. Speaker, as I rise to speak on the budget, I first want to take this opportunity to express on behalf of my family and constituents our condolences to the families and colleagues of the RCMP officers who lost their lives in this most tragic situation. My family and my constituents asked me to do so at the first opportunity.
Before I speak about the budget, let me say that I have met with the superintendents from 41 and 42 division and with councillor Michael Thompson. I have said repeatedly how we have to address this horrendous situation with the grow houses and, as an example, look at changing the Criminal Code to provide minimum sentences.
For me it is a real pleasure to have the opportunity to speak about this second budget for the 10 minutes I have. As we know, the first budget was brought in when the right hon. Prime Minister first assumed office last year. This is really the first budget in which we have had an opportunity to commence what we discussed during the campaign of 2004, the promises that were made.
Before I get into the nitty-gritty, I thank my colleague from Malpeque very much for sharing his time with me. He talked a lot about his community and the farming and fishing industries, et cetera.
It is often said that the past always affects the future. In order for me to stand here today to talk about this budget, it is incumbent upon me and very important that we take this opportunity to turn back the clock for a moment, to try not just to appreciate but more to understand why we find ourselves today in this enviable position of being able to continue to reinvest in our country as a whole. There are many areas that I hope to have an opportunity to go into, from seniors to youth, from the farming community to our urban and rural areas, et cetera.
Permit me to go back to 1993-94 when the Liberal team assumed government. It was no secret that the finances of the nation were a shambles. We were literally almost a bankrupt country, unofficially, with a very high deficit of $43 billion. We had an uncontrollable debt that was way out of whack. We had high unemployment. We had a nation that psychologically was just not there. There was no confidence.
Our approach then and now was not and is not revolutionary in any way. It is an approach of common sense and understanding, but more so one of balance. We all know that we cannot satisfy every request completely, but let us look at what has happened today.
First of all, I do not think there is another country that can boast of having seven consecutive balanced budgets. Never before in the history of our country have we had this. I dare anyone to stand and say that is not an accurate statement. It is unprecedented and unheard of. It just does not happen that for seven consecutive years a country has balanced budgets and, thank God, very healthy surpluses.
In trying to address the needs of the nation, we are now in an enviable position, not one of investing but one of continuing to reinvest. Continuing reinvestment is really continuing to meet the promises the Liberals have made over the years, promises that we made in the last budget and that we are meeting once again today.
The strength of our ability to eliminate the deficit and reduce the debt substantially, by almost $60 billion, was not on the backs of anybody. Yes, there were adjustments made, and yes, fine tuning had to be done. Nobody said we did not do it, but we went right to the people in 1993 and said we had to make some tough decisions and at the end of the day Canadians could judge us accordingly.
Madam Speaker, you and I were elected back in 1993 and made those commitments. We were in the enviable position, as we were nearing that first mandate, of being able to say to the people, “Here are tangible results”.
I am sure and confident in saying that one of the most important issues for Canadians was and is health care. Health care was the issue that was front and centre then, it is today and I am sure it will be in the future.
We asked Mr. Romanow, a well respected former premier, to do a review of health care. He came back with recommendations. Then what did we do? We not only met those recommendations but we exceeded them. Why? Because we made a commitment to Canadians: we want to make sure that each and every Canadian has the opportunity to have access to our health system no matter where they live in Canada.
Aside from that, one area that is of great concern to all of us, and we heard it loud and clear as we were going through the last election, is of course the well-being of our cities. Mayor after mayor right across the country said they needed help. I am one who has often said that in order to have a strong country we must have a strong city infrastructure, which makes for a strong province and thus results in a strong country.
Not only did we in the last budget commit fuel taxes worth billions of dollars to the provinces, for which we were applauded by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities even during the election, but it was reconfirmed in the budget again. Over the next five years it will total almost $5 billion and will continue to grow. I thank the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the mayors for being honest and straightforward and for acknowledging the support we have been giving them. So again, on the new deal for the cities and the promises we have made, we have kept those promises.
Another area that I have great concern for, as I am sure all members do, has to do with our seniors. I must say that the member for Trinity--Spadina spearheaded this effort. I thank the Minister of Finance, because this confirms to me that the input we provide in prebudget consultations is listened to.
Yes, there was a program to unfold and increase the GIS over a period of five years, but what did the Minister of Finance do? He did it immediately and over a two year period.
Why? Because in my view and in the view of many others, seniors as a group in our country are not income generators. They rely on their pension system, on their GIS, for example. They do not have the ability to say that they are going to work 20 or 30 hours this week and get an increase. No. They are on fixed incomes. As far as I am concerned, this move tells seniors that we have heard them loud and clear and, based on a balanced approach, we are trying to do our best to address that call as well.
I was very pleased indeed that the Minister of Finance responded to our seniors. It makes me very proud when I meet with seniors and tell them what the government has done.
At the same time, it has often been asked since the budget was announced, “Where is the tax relief?” People say they got nothing for tax relief.
Members tend to forget that in 2000 a five year program rolled out by the government was the largest tax relief ever in the history of our country. It was $100 billion. As of January 2005, we are now into the fifth year of that program. In my humble opinion, there is no need to go in that direction for more tax relief when we are already into the fifth year. As we continue our healthy progress with surpluses in the future I am confident that the minister responsible will listen to us. Yes, if there is room, we will do that as well.
Another important area is the $4 billion committed to a clean environment to ensure that we do whatever we can to eliminate unwanted greenhouse gas emissions. We need to ensure that systems are developed, programs are developed, and technology is supported so that we can protect the environment, for us and future generations. The government has made the biggest investment of close to $13 billion for our military. It has done a tremendous job.