Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Fleetwood—Port Kells.
I will begin by thanking my colleague from across the floor, the member for Markham—Unionville, for offering me the opportunity to discuss the importance of responsible budget planning.
While he and I may duel a little bit at the finance committee, he likes the GST and I happen to dislike it, we still can have a fruitful discussion about the nation's finances.
This topic raises an important question, a question that tells us a lot about our values and how best to translate them into a better economy for Canadians and for our families; an economy that can keep pace in the increasingly fast paced and advanced global arena; an economy with better job opportunities; and a higher standard of living and greater opportunity for Canadians to learn, to earn and to invest in the future of their want for themselves and their families.
I listen to the families in St. Catharines and Canadian families all over. What they tell me is that they want some basic budgeting principles applied when they manage their finances. First, they do not want the government to spend beyond its means. Canadians understand this and Canada's new government understands it as well. Not only do we understand this, but we are acting on it.
We announced significant spending control measures to ensure that the government does not spend beyond its means and that spending is effectively focused on the priorities of all Canadians. We have clearly indicated that a strategy is in place to secure $1 billion in savings this year and next, as we promised in the spring budget. We saw that federal program spending was down $1.1 billion from the previous year, the first year over year decline in nine years. This is a critical point.
I would like to use some quotes to support our focus. First, “The government plans to make a regular exercise of chopping low priority programs to fund the Liberal agenda”. Second, “When it comes to funding and savings”, this individual said, “philosophically I believe it's absolutely the right thing to do”. This gentleman went on to say that his initial goal of bringing in excess of $12 billion out of government departments was just a start. Finally, he said, “There's no doubt you can't find $12 billion or even a chunk of it without affecting jobs”.
I know the House is waiting in breathless anticipation to hear who said those things. It was not me. It was not the President of the Treasury Board. In fact, it was not the Minister of Finance. It was the member for Markham—Unionville, the very person who is moving this motion today.
In fact, what the government is doing is what my hon. friend from across the floor agrees should be done. We have secured savings by identifying unused funds for programs that will not proceed. These are funds in excess of what is required to achieve results.
The previous spend-happy government liked to have its hand in the cookie jar so much that it could not be bothered to put the lid back on the jar. In fact, it became known across the country as the sponsorship jar because it was so easy to get into it.
This government has thrown out the jar and put the funds where they belong the most, with the highest priorities of Canadians. We also confirm that Canada's new government is reducing the national debt by $13.2 billion, one of the largest pay downs of debt reduction in Canadian history. This means that federal debt is actually down $561 for each and every Canadian and that the federal government will save approximately $650 million this year and every year into the future.
This represents substantial progress. It is reflected in the favourable ratings we receive from investment houses and bond rating agencies, which will result in lower interest for all Canadians at all levels of government, including right here and starting right here at the federal level.
Paying down the national debt means lower interest payments for all Canadians, freeing up resources for real priorities like tax reduction, supporting our seniors, and funding our health care system.
Canadians understand how this works. They know that it is better to pay down our debts as soon as possible so that we can spend money on better things than interest payments.
That is how Canadians want us to proceed and that is how we will proceed.
Our approach is already paying dividends, dividends we are reinvesting into some of the highest priorities of Canadians, such as our universal child care benefit, which provides parents with $1,200 per year to support their child care choice, or investments in core federal responsibilities like public safety, national defence and border security. These are vital for ridings like mine in the Niagara region.
There are also the priorities of financial assistance that will help meet the critical infrastructure needs of the communities we call home, the integrity of our universities and our colleges, and assistance for those who need affordable housing in this country.
We have done all this and we will continue to do more for Canadians and their families, because the Canadian family is at the heart of our agenda. As I hope I have illustrated here today, it is also the inspiration for our approach to managing taxpayers' dollars.
Paying down the debt is an investment in a low tax, high potential future for our children. That is what my parents, who are sitting here in the House today, want for their children. That is what I want for my children.
St. Catharines residents often tell me how important it is that our local economy is able to provide high quality jobs. It is important because we want our kids and the students at Brock University and Niagara College to be able to stay in the area and raise families. We do not want them to leave because they have to find jobs elsewhere. By reducing the debt today, we are helping ensure that a bright future will be there for them tomorrow.