Mr. Speaker, I listened to the debate today. I suppose it would be easy to repeat many of the points again, but I thought I would change gears a little to see if we could maybe put this in terms my grandma would understand.
I think Canadians are aware of the history of the Liberal Party. They are aware of what it did during its term of office that ended last January. Canadians also will know that the financial year of the Government of Canada ends on March 31 and the Conservative government started to sit in April of this year.
When the Auditor General finally did her work and reported on the financial position of the Government of Canada for the 12 months ending March 31, 2006, which was just before the Conservative government called Parliament together, there was a $13.2 billion surplus. This is something that we as Canadians should celebrate.
A surplus is not a bad thing. In fact, it shows good fiscal responsibility. It means the debt can be paid down and the money spent on interest can be saved. Indeed, the interest savings are going to be approximately $600 million a year. That is a good thing because that is the real fiscal dividend.
I can remember our discussions in 1997. When we came in, we inherited the Brian Mulroney financial situation of the country, with a $42 billion deficit. It took three years after we were first elected to whittle that down to the first balanced budget, which occurred in 1997. The members might be interested to hear the question we were then posing, which was about getting to the point where we were actually going to balance the books. That is a good thing. Canadians want that. As a matter of fact, I believe that Canadians say it is unacceptable for any party in government to incur a deficit unless there are extraordinary circumstances clearly beyond its control. We are not going back into deficit. I do not think there is a party in this place, maybe other than the NDP, that would want to go back into a deficit.
Having said that, I will say we must understand that the Auditor General determined in September that, as of March 31, $13.2 billion was the number. Under the rules of accounting of the Government of Canada, the entire amount goes to pay down debt. No decision was taken by anybody. March 31 was over six months ago. The moneys already were applied against the debt. There was no decision to be taken.
Back in 1997 when we were talking about having our very first balanced budget and maybe a small surplus, people were saying, “What should we do with the surplus?” We then got into defining what the real fiscal dividend would be to Canadians. What was the benefit to Canadians of having a surplus? It is not the surplus in itself, which goes to pay down the debt; it is the interest savings on the financing of the debt. It is the interest savings year after year. A surplus only occurs in one year, but if the bank loan is paid down, that means interest for all the years thereafter will be lower than otherwise projected.
We passed on a healthy situation to the Conservative government. That is a good thing. We should celebrate that, but now, each and every year, each and every government, regardless of what party it is, has to be a responsible government.
The debate I have heard indicates that people are getting a little partisan about this. They are talking about somebody maybe doing things because they really do not have their eye on the ball of making “good laws and wise decisions”, as we pray each day. They are not looking at an integrated vision for Canada, an economic plan and a social plan and things that would work together to make our country even better than it is.
How do we build up immunity to big hits during a recession? How do we deal with high unemployment, should that occur? In one year, if we were to go into a deficit, we could have a $6 billion additional charge to the EI fund just because of the unemployment caused by a recession.
We talk here about billions of dollars, but ordinary Canadians are looking at their paycheques. Most Canadians who talk to us are saying that they have family responsibilities and bills to pay and they have to provide for their future. They say they work hard for every dollar they earn and they want, expect and deserve fiscal responsibility from the government.
So yes, there was a $13.2 billion surplus. It paid down debt. It is going to save us approximately $600 million a year. That is a good thing, but that $600 million a year is new dollars available to invest in the priorities of Canadians. It should be invested in things like health care, things for our youth and seniors, and for government efficiency, to continue to do things as we are able to, and for tax cuts as they are affordable.
Responsible government is about having a vision. I think the debate going on back and forth around the House is questioning whether or not, on a partisan basis, someone is doing things for partisan reasons. Perhaps rather than having their eye on a vision of Canada and how we are going to have responsible government in Canada, they are in fact looking at when the next election is going to be. Is it really going to be next spring after the budget comes down? The Bloc Québécois has already said it is voting against the budget because it is not concerned. The role of the official opposition is to oppose and we will be opposed to the budget, because we already know that the government made commitments in its last election platform and many of them have not been introduced into this place yet.
In the next fiscal period, there are significant undertakings. One of them, I am afraid to say, is going to be tremendously expensive, and that is the wait times guarantee. I am not going to get into that, but there was no money in the last budget. There will have to be a lot of money in the next budget if the government is going to make a serious commitment to achieving a platform objective.
All in all, what the economists have worked out is that in the next budget we have to trim something like $23 billion of what we spend today, in this fiscal year, so that we can pay for the $23 billion in additional promises that were made by the Conservatives in their last platform. That is not partisan. That just happens to be the fact. Those are the undertakings of the government of the day, so we know things are going to be happening.
When the government comes to this place and announces that there will be a billion dollars in cuts and another billion two years from now, it is inconsequential. I do not think they really have to do that, but some of those cuts touched a chord with ordinary Canadians like my grandma.
Seniors are affected by this and our youth are affected by this, as are the illiterate in our country. Members well know that illiteracy in Canada is way higher than most Canadians even realize. People are unable to read a simple instruction manual on how to operate machinery, equipment or any other technological item. That is the world we live in.
I think the President of the Treasury Board struck a nerve with a lot of Canadians when he said about literacy that the government is cutting adult literacy programs because those people are already adults, they cannot read and so nothing can be done about it. In fact, programs have shown that adult literacy programs are productive.
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services was saying that the Conservatives only cut a half of 1% of the budget of the Government of Canada. That is a billion dollars. Let us talk about a billion dollars. Saying that it is only a half of 1% is not the way to look at it. It is a billion dollars, and there are some cuts there.
Canadians want to understand why Parliament does things and why we do things. I felt really bad to hear a minister of the Crown say that we are not going to do this any more in adult literacy because they are old people now and we cannot teach an old dog new tricks. That is just not the way it works. I think we have the responsibility, collectively in the House, but certainly with the lead of the government, to make sure that we do not leave anyone behind. All Canadians need hope.