Debates of May 10th, 2006

Financial Statement of Minister of Finance

[Bev Oda, Conservative, Durham, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his acknowledgement of how we worked together in the committee in the last session and for his question.

As he knows, our party and this government will continue in the tradition of working in a positive way in trying to move things forward, as we have before, for the betterment of the creators and the performers in the cultural industries across Canada.

He brings up an interesting question. As he knows, we are at present undertaking a review of the museums policy for the government. We acknowledge that we have responsibilities, and not only for the national museums that are located here. We try to exchange and make sure that those artifacts we have are going to be available and accessible to all Canadians.

I have been a great admirer of the amount of talent and culture that your province of Newfoundland and Labrador has generated as part of this country. I know that your heritage is important, as it is in every small community and every province across the regions and territories in this country.

Every community wants to value its heritage and its history. This is why we have an abundance of smaller museums in every community. We know there are challenges facing these small community museums. As I said, we are reviewing our programs. We are looking at not only our large national museums; we are looking at our historic participation in working with the provinces and municipalities. I am confident that when we come forward the committee will be looking at the new museum policy. We will continue to work together as good members in support of the museums and the culture of Canada.

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Bill Blaikie]

Before resuming debate, let me note that I hesitated to interrupt the minister, but there were a couple of occasions on which she talked to the hon. member straight across the floor, referring to him in the second person. We try not to do that. The rules are that we refer to each other in the third person and address our remarks through the Chair.

Resuming debate, the hon. member for Battlefords--Lloydminster.

[Gerry Ritz, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the way they address each other is a result of the collegiality they enjoyed on the committee they served on together, although I know we are supposed to address each other through the Chair.

I am very pleased to stand today in the House and speak to budget 2006. In the almost 10 years I have been here, I have spoken to just about every budget as it came along. On the opposition side, of course, a lot of comments are made that point to the holes, or at the missing bells and whistles, or to the different way things are being done.

I was a part of that too, but in all fairness, I think this budget has struck a chord with Canadians from coast to coast to coast. My colleagues and I have received letters and e-mails from every aspect of the Canadian public, from ethnic groups, cultural groups, business groups, farmers and ranchers. In general, everybody is saying that this is a fantastic budget.

Canadians are finally seeing a paradigm shift. Spending is finally going to be under control. We are at less than half of what it was creeping up to last year, and the tax cuts have doubled. More Canadians are going to be able to keep their hard-earned cash. They are going to be able to make the decisions that benefit them and their businesses rather than flushing their money to Ottawa, then saying they are not getting this and not getting that and asking, “Where did the money go?”

A lack of accountability permeated the old Liberal government that had been in power a couple of years too long. Those Liberal members are going to spend a little time in the penalty box. I think even those members recognize that there was a major problem at the end of their tenure--

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Gerry Ritz, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

We are going to shift things a little bit more to the accountability side. I know those members over there are going to hoot and holler about that, but that is where we have to go. We have to be far more responsible with taxpayers' money. I think this budget does that.

As I went around my riding after the election, when the great folks of Battlefords--Lloydminster saw fit to send me back here again and continue the work of the last 10 years, I was asked one question repeatedly: “What is it like to be on the government side?” I could not really answer that.

It was not until we were here in the House and starting to work on the projects we have had in our hip pockets, projects that we came here for years ago, starting to see some of those projects come to fruition and starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel, that I could answer that question. We are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel on a lot of the different issues that drove us into this House of Commons to take part in debates like these.

I did not really get a sense of the huge undertaking that we are taking on as a government, but I started to see consistency between what the Prime Minister campaigned on, what the throne speech outlined, and now the budget. I am seeing that consistency permeating all of this and Canadians are really thrilled with that. We have cut the flowery language and the jargon, the language that always went along with the thrust and drive of political debate here in the House.

This budget document is focused, it is highlighted and it is detailed. It is a fantastic document. It is not a big document, but there is a lot of information in its few pages. Canadians took it upon themselves to have a look at it either in print or on the website and their comments were unbelievable.

When I did my press release at home about the budget, there was a young newspaper reporter who has been hit or miss with support. That is fine. He is fair. He told me it took him an extra half a day to follow up on my press release because he wanted to do a really good balanced report. In order to do his report, he talked to about 50 or 60 people on the street in the largest community in my riding. He found as broad a spectrum of individuals as possible. He talked to everybody who would answer him. He said that not one person had a bad thing to say about the budget. They saw the news releases and they said things like: “this is great for me” or “this will work great for my aunt” or “this will be great for my mom and dad in the seniors' complex”.

He had not looked in depth at the budget himself at that time, so he went home and pencilled it out. He found that for him, his wife and his two young children, this budget will save his household $2,100. That is what he explained to me. With the education his wife is undertaking and with other things, he is going to save $2,100. He was ecstatic. He said he had never seen that before.

This young man is also in the military reserves and he loves the direction we are taking by putting some power back into our military and giving them the respect they need and have always deserved. He is happy that we are giving them the equipment they need to do the job they are so proud of doing around the world and here at home.

There has been a lot of discussion about our child care plan. Of course we campaigned on that and Canadians saw fit to send us back here to implement our child care plan and do away with the Liberal one.

There was a problem with that Liberal plan, and the Liberals seem to forget this in a bit of revisionist history. They forget that they only had a one year agreement, an agreement with 10 provinces in principle, but only three had ever bought in. Yet they were planning on moving along with it. Their program addressed 7% of the need. There was no plan to create child care spaces like they rant and rave about, but our plan does create them.

There is funding in the budget so that businesses, community groups and so on can start to develop 125,000 child care spaces. That is fantastic news.

In the rural areas that I represent the $1,200 a year creates a cash flow situation. The local parents can use the institutionalized child care if they so desire, or stay home and look after their kids, or grandma, grandpa or someone else can do it. However they decide to do it, it is their choice and the cash flow is theirs. It is taxed back at the rate of the lowest income earner.

The NDP members have gone from saying families are only going to net $190 to $800 or $900. At the end of the discussion they finally got their calculators to work right. There are instances in many lower income homes where the amount will not be taxed at all. That is a wonderful thing. Some 650,000 people will be coming off the low end of the tax rolls with our tax proposals.

There has been a lot of discussion about the 1% reduction in the GST and a lot of screaming and howling from the party that was never going to implement it. Now we are taking it backwards and ratcheting it down, as we should do and can do, and they are screaming no, we have to keep it. What hypocrisy.

The great thing about the GST cut is it affects everyone. I do not care if one is a senior on a fixed income or a guy earning $100,000 and his wife earns another $100,000. It does not matter. It is going to affect everyone in the same way. Whether we rent or own our home, whether we lease or own our car, or whether we do not have a car at all and we ride the bus, there is GST on everything we eat, see and do. That tax is hidden in everything, the telephone bill, power bill, heating bill and tax notice. It does not matter what it is, there is that little gouge and screw tax on the end of it.

Taking one point off the GST is going to make a huge difference to everyone. As I said, whether one is on a fixed income or one is a huge megabuck earner, everyone is going to benefit from it. That is great. That will inject cash back into the economy which we have not seen for quite a while. We know this is so good that we are going to do it again. We are going to lower the GST by another point just as soon as we can make it financially doable.

Get used to good things from this government. Being a minority government our days might be numbered, but they are going to be good days. When people ask me what it is like to be in government, I can say that it is thrilling because we can finally deliver back to people the tax cuts and programs that people want to actually to make use of.

There is a lot of hue and cry from the NDP members. They cannot support this budget because there are tax cuts for big corporations. Of course there are and there have to be. Who do they suppose creates the union jobs and the bulk of the jobs in this country? It is business. They cut off their nose to spite their face when they say they are not going to support a budget because there are tax cuts in it. That is ridiculous. It creates a little thing called profit which lets business hire more people, or rehire them in the case of the softwood lumber industry.

This budget is a breath of fresh air. This is an economic stimulation for the country.

There is great news in the budget for agriculture. We saw a lot of things going sideways. There is $2 billion over the next two years which will go directly into agriculture. That does not rule out ad hoc payments if we have another crash and burn, but it certainly gives stability to the industry. It gets the financial sector looking more positively again at agriculture. Lines of credits are a tough thing to come by in my area of the country. We have been hard hit, but with a $2 billion injection, already the bankers are phoning me saying, “This is great. We can see when this comes in it will make a positive impact”.

We are forced to do it through the CAIS program because the provinces are not ready to let that go yet. We are buying into that warts and all, but the $2 billion will let us go back in there and cut off some of those warts. We can go back in and adjust reference margins and little things where they were jerking around the inventory values, things that will actually trigger money back out to farmers who were hard hit. We can go back retroactively to 2003 which stimulates the 2004-05 payments. Farmers are ecstatic about this. They love it and all the other little things that go along with it.

Ten minutes is just not enough time to talk about all the great things in the budget. There are super components in it for post-secondary education for young people who want to go on to university. There are tax incentives on books. We have $1 billion for infrastructure for universities because we know the kind of shape they are in after years of neglect.

We are carrying on with the infrastructure program so that our highways can be rebuilt. We have to wear seat belts in Saskatchewan just to keep us in our seats because the roads are so rough. We are going to go in and fix these things.

The Liberal government talked about it for 13 years. We have been here for four months and we are getting the job done.

[Brent St. Denis, Liberal, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to my friend across the way. My suggestion would be that 10 minutes may be more than enough to deal with the good things in this budget, but we would need a lot more than 10 minutes to deal with the bad things in this budget.

I am not sure if he does his own income taxes, but a lot of people go to H&R Block and other organizations to have their taxes done. With great respect to the family that he referred to that claimed it was going to get a $2,100 tax break with this Conservative budget, I find that hard to believe.

Is he actually aware that a tax credit is really not in our pockets what it is says it is on a piece of paper? For example, with a $500 tax credit for sports programs, take about 15.5% of that, and we would get $78 or $80, something like that.

I am wondering if the member is aware that the dollars in the budget that the treasurer talked about, or I should say the finance minister, but I guess at one time he was a treasurer in Ontario, and not that good at it, actually, not that I recall, but those were the Mike Harris government days in Ontario. This budget is very much like if somebody promised to hit me on the head with a 2x4 and kept his promise, I do not think I would be very happy. I am just wondering if my friend across the way is aware that a tax credit is really not worth what it says it is? It is actually worth about 15% of the amount, or 15.5% because there is a tax increase in this budget.

[Gerry Ritz, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite had his elbows up last night in the hockey game we had and he still has them up. The unfortunate part is we won and they lost. It was a great evening. We had a great time out there.

I think he must have taken a real bump on the head with his helmet off at one point, because the bottom line here is this gentleman is telling me that under our tax programs and our working of the budgets and so on, his household is going to be much better off than it had been under the Liberals for the last 13 years.

The Liberals can talk about all the wonderful things and the deathbed conversions that they had on the way to the election campaign, but their promises were never implemented. They said they were going to lower the rate to 15% and they even had Revenue Canada print up the forms, but it never passed. It is one thing to talk about lowering the rate and it is another thing to actually do it, and we did it.

Also tied in with whether their rate is bigger than ours or whatever, we could go on with that forever. We have a basic personal exemption increase. We have a myriad of things in the budget that everybody is better off with.

I would take our policy across the country any time. The member should look at the polling numbers out there and there is acceptance by Canadians on the whole. If he wants to take this to the electorate tomorrow, I would be happy to do that.

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I can only react to what I have heard. I have the feeling that the hon. member is trying to impress someone. I would ask him to be a bit more modest about the budget. It is not a cure-all. One swallow does not make a summer. This budget contains some good measures, particularly with regard to the fiscal imbalance, and I will vote for it.

I could talk in particular about microbreweries. The budget will affect a microbrewery in my riding, on the Magdalen Islands. The company will save or recoup about $30,000, which is significant.

But there are also many things missing from the budget. Just because the Conservatives have had a minority government for a few weeks, that does not meant that they can fix everything in one shot and that all is well. The Conservative Party will have to go back to the drawing board on the Kyoto protocol. The same is true of employment insurance.

I would ask the hon. member to curb his enthusiasm and settle down. He is giving the impression that the situation is rosy and everything is fine, when that is not true. We should stop thinking that way. I would ask the member to take a long-term view and admit that this budget does not solve every problem.

[Gerry Ritz, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the one thing the member opposite seems to forget is there is a budget every year. We will get to do this again next year. Then we will get to do it again the year after that and the year after that. This is a start. This is a huge paradigm shift. There is no political panacea. There never is. Any of those groups that say, “The government should do more” and “The government will” and “The government has to” do not realize that the government does not have 5¢. The government manages the taxpayers' money.

The member talked about a microbrewery in his own riding that has ascertained from this that it is going to save $30,000. I would say that is 30,000% higher than it had the week before or the year before under the Liberal government. That is good news. Of course one wants to get up and be a cheerleader for that.

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Bill Blaikie]

Before resuming debate, it is my duty pursuant to Standing Order 38 to inform the House that the question to be raised tonight at the time of adjournment is as follows: the hon. member for New Westminster—Coquitlam, National Defence.

[Joe McGuire, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to address the budget today. It is also a pleasure to share my time with the member for Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, which is a very large riding with a very long name.

I would like to begin, lest we forget, by recalling that when the Liberal government came to power in 1993, we faced a tremendous task, thanks to nine years of Conservative fiscal mismanagement. Mr. Speaker, I do not know if you would agree with me, but I am sure that the NDP would never have left the country in the shape that the Conservative government did in 1993.

We inherited a $43 billion annual deficit. Our national debt equalled 70% of our gross domestic product. Deficit financing had become a budgetary mainstay. Interest rates were skyrocketing, job creation was negative and unemployment reached double digits. However, a change was wrought under the Liberal regime over the last 13 years and that is the reason the member for Battlefords—Lloydminster could make the speech that he just did.

We were left with the daunting task of setting Canada's financial books straight, and we did just that. We did what the Conservatives could not or would not do. We took on the required difficult task. It was painful, but the Canadian people stuck with us in our decision making and it amounted to short term pain for long term gain. In just four short years the finances of this country began to turn around. We brought the government out of the red and restored our fiscal sovereignty.

Over the next eight years we brought down eight consecutive surpluses and projected at least five more. We reduced the national debt by more than $63 billion, thereby saving $3 billion in interest rates. We brought the unemployment rate to a 32 year low. Inflation was lowered and interest rates were at the lowest for decades. We renewed the federal government's capacity to increase the standard of living of every Canadian. We did this through investing in social programs, through economic development programs, skills training and job creation, low interest rates, regional development programs, new municipal infrastructure programs and tax reduction. To be succinct, we successfully orchestrated the maple leaf miracle, the envy of every G-7 country.

When the present government came to power with just 36% of popular support across Canada, to use a baseball analogy, we were sitting on third base financially with nobody out and the Conservatives scratched at one single and, coming out of the bushes after 13 years, they came in with a very, very disappointing budget.

Never in the history of Canada has an incoming government inherited such a tremendous record of surpluses. Certainly, in the history of Canada, no outgoing Conservative government has ever left such a tremendous record.

We worked to ensure that all Canadians held on to their hard-earned money. We lowered the income tax rate. We reduced more than $100 billion in federal taxes since 2000. Just last year we initiated a six year tax cut that would have seen savings of over $50 billion to Canadian taxpayers.

We lowered the employment insurance rates for the 11th consecutive year to half of what they were in 1993. In 1993 the EI rate was $3.07 per $100. It was going up to $3.30 per $100. Today it is $1.87 per $100. In this budget it was never mentioned. An EI rate reduction was not mentioned for employers and employees. We were being accused of accumulating huge surpluses. Apparently these huge surpluses are now welcomed by the present government.

We worked with the provinces and territories to establish a $5 billion deal that would ensure that every Canadian from coast to coast regardless of age, income, gender or race could access quality public child care.

We concluded a $41 billion agreement on health care.

We worked to build a consensus around a new equalization agreement, a $33 billion 10 year agreement which implemented a constitutional commitment to the equality of Canadians across the country regardless of region.

We developed an unprecedented agreement with first nations across Canada, through the Kelowna accord, which heralded a new era of cooperation and commitment to increasing the quality of life of aboriginal peoples. Alas, I do not believe that agreement is any longer in effect.

These are just a few of the previous Liberal government's successes.

In my time remaining, I want to discuss two issues of particular importance.

First, I want to point the lack of vision for Atlantic Canada, particularly there was no mention of an immigration policy for our region. The demographics for Atlantic Canada are very disturbing. With our out-migration, our aging population and low birth rates, Atlantic Canada will not have the number of people required to not only grow the economy in the future but to fill the jobs that are there now. Yet each province in Atlantic Canada knows these numbers. They know that an immigration policy has to be put in place in cooperation with the immigration department of the federal government.

Under the ACOA program we made some initial starts on that, working with the provinces to create a fund. We are not used to going out looking for immigrants. Immigrants, who come into our country, go to Toronto, Calgary and the large cities. Many of the immigrants who do come to Atlantic Canada only stay for a short time and they migrate to places of better opportunity. We no longer have the ability to look at this in a lax way. We must address it because the future of Atlantic Canada is in the balance if we do not get serious about an immigration policy that will not only attract immigrants to the region but to retain them for the future economic development of our region.

I do not have to tell anyone here of the importance of the economic development of the outlying regions of our country. Each region as a part contributes to the success of Canada as a whole.

Although it was not mentioned once in the budget, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency is critical to the development of the Atlantic region. Its programs fund small and medium sized business by providing repayable loans and providing risk capital. It also encourages job creation through enterprise development and it promotes community development. It has a proven track record of success in lowering unemployment, creating jobs and generating value for money outcomes. In the first decade, since its creation, each ACOA dollar invested created $5 in the GDP of Atlantic Canada.

As well, over the past decade, the Atlantic Canada Liberal caucus has been very active in developing a plan that has focused on strategic investments that make good business sense and help the region. These politicians know that proper economic development planning takes time and requires sustained commitment. They cannot simply follow the short term time span offered in the calendar year.

That is why the Liberal government five years ago responded with a $700 million Atlantic investment partnership and a renewed investment of $708 million in 2005. Although still being implemented, these strategic investments have already begun to yield positive results with the Atlantic economy. Funding to support research and development has attracted over $800 million worth of investment in the region. Investments in community economic development boast a leveraging percentage of over 100% or more. More than $36 million in sales have been directly attributed to trade missions funded through this initiative.

Strengthening economic and community development is key to reversing current trends of underdevelopment and out-migration. However, keeping in mind Prime Minister Harper's comments damning regional--

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Bill Blaikie]

Order, please. The hon. member knows better than to refer to the Prime Minister by his name.

[Joe McGuire, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's comments damning regional economic programs as nothing more than ineffective corporate welfare and his current preoccupation with satisfying other regions of Canada, I am concerned that he was conveniently ignoring economic development in the Atlantic region.

Without sufficient investments in this area, the region will never again achieve the economic success it enjoyed when it joined Confederation. This does not seem to bother the Prime Minister. A true commitment to regional development of Canada would have been demonstrated by some mention of it in the budget. Obviously Atlantic Canada is not a priority of the new government.

To conclude, the Conservative Party came to the plate in 2006 and it cannot seem to get the ball out of the infield. It is positioned with a world-leading economy, the best fiscal record in Canadian history. Despite the boons blessed upon it, left by the previous Liberal government, we discover the Conservatives cannot make it to home plate. Nowhere do we see the commitment to a national vision articulated and implemented by the previous Liberal government and nowhere do we see the fiscal commitment continuing the prosperity trend established by the previous Liberal government.

[Myron Thompson, Conservative, Wild Rose, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the member across the way started his speech by talking about 1993, so I would like to do the same for a moment.

When the Liberal government came to power in 1993, it announced that one million children were living in poverty and that its budgets would take care of the problem. In 2005 1.5 million children were living in those conditions.

When the Liberal government came to power in 1993, it talked about scrapping the GST. Sheila Copps resigned because it did not keep its promise. John Nunziata voted against the budget and was sent across the way because it did not keep its promise. In 2005 it was the Liberal GST policy.

In 1995 the gun registry was created for $2 million, which would take care of the weapons problem. Nearly $2 billion has been spent.

During the 1990s, $1 billion was lost in HRDC somewhere. It was an absolute boondoggle. Where did the money go? No one knows.

In the 1990s there was poverty on the reserves. There were third world conditions. All the budgets promised to take care of that. In 2005 the conditions were the same or worse. In fact, bad water has increased to a great degree.

The Kyoto agreement was established in the 1990s and the government spent billions of dollars. In 2005 emissions were up 36%.

There was the culture of entitlement. Mr. Dingwall made off with a big haul. There are $1.7 million for which Mr. Ouellet does not have to account. There are no receipts for expenses.

All of this was on the Liberal record. Well done, Liberal guys, because in 2006 Canadians voted and said they wanted change. I do not blame them. I certainly want change.

Today Canadians are cheering our budget and our policies. I am afraid the member is completely out of whack when he talks about the great job the Liberals have done.

[Joe McGuire, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Speaker, if he wants to go back to 1993, I would like to remind the member that the Canadian people returned two Progressive Conservative members to the House. That was the judgment of the Canadian people in 1993. That was the judgment of nine years of Conservative government. The Conservatives came back with two MPs. One is now the Liberal Premier of Quebec.

At the same time, the Conservatives created the party that was represented by the member who just spoke, the Bloc Québécois. That is what they did to our country in their nine years of mismanagement of our economy and country.

The Liberals may have lost a minority government after 13 years. We cannot stay in government forever. However, we came back with 104 seats, not 2 seats. We came back within striking distance of a minority government ourselves.

He talked about the $1 billion boondoggle. It turned out, after all the accountants went through it and after spending millions of dollars to get to the bottom of the so-called boondoggle, that $70,000 were unaccounted for. The Conservatives created the situation where Canadian taxpayers spent millions of dollars trying to find out what was there when there was nothing there at all. For any financial institution in Canada, that would have been a banner year for handling any kind of money.

The member, who came in here as a Reform Party member, has no legs to stand on right now.

[Gerald Keddy, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margaret's, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member talks about $42 billion in deficit in 1992. The reality was $38 billion of that belonged to the previous Liberal government. In 1993 the government was elected on two things: getting rid of free trade and abolishing the GST. Those were the two promises to Canadians. The government kept neither one.

As far as paying down the deficit, the Liberal government plundered the civil service pension plan for $32 billion. It never put a penny back and did not ask for it. There was no vote on it. It did it behind the scenes. It took the money from the pockets of superannuates, ex-Mounties, ex-service people and ex-civil servants.

First, I would like a reply on what you did with the money and second, how you ever intended to put it back, because you never intended to put it back.

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Bill Blaikie]

I will give the hon. member for Egmont just a brief opportunity, but again, I say to the member for South Shore—St. Margaret's, we refer to each other here in the third person. Remarks should come through the Chair, even when you are wound up.

[Joe McGuire, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Speaker, I think the hon. member is getting confused between deficits and debts. The deficit was $43 billion annually. The debt they ran up was close to $400 billion. That was in addition to what was already there. It doubly accumulated.

In our last tenure we reduced that debt by $63 billion and we saved $3 billion annually on debt payments. That is the difference between what they did and what we did.

[Brent St. Denis, Liberal, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Mr. Speaker, before I start my remarks, I would like to follow up. The debt grew quite large under the administration of the Conservative government of Mr. Mulroney. Under our administration, the debt as a percentage of GDP dropped from 68% to 38%. That is a substantial accomplishment. We started out, as my hon. colleague from Egmont said, with a $40 billion plus annual deficit. In fact, this is a great segue for my own remarks.

My own very large and beautiful riding of Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing in northern Ontario, some 110,000 square kilometres, is an area filled with creative people, about two dozen first nations communities and Métis people. We have tourism, forestry, mining and a potential for the future, which is fabulous. However, the budget, introduced for the first time by the government a few days ago, is one without any vision. In fact, when I was contemplating whether it was a vision that was a bad vision for the future or whether there was any vision at all, I really was not certain.

Let me just build a bit on some of my colleague's remarks. We should consider what our administration did over the last 12 years with the national unemployment rate. In 1993 it was at 11.5%. Now it hovers in at just over 6%. I mentioned the huge drop in the debt burden of the country. Employment insurance premiums dropped from over $3 per $100 of earnings back in 1993 to now under $2 per $100 of earnings. It is a fabulous boost for small business and workers across the country.

I could go on and on. In fact, a very important statistic is that Canada's foreign debt as a percentage of GDP dropped from 45% in 1993 to only 17%. We were able to put the books of the country in shape for the first time in a long time, I think eight successive surpluses. Thankfully, the Conservatives now are the beneficiary of a great set of books. We encourage them to use those funds wisely. Do not bring us back into deficit. That would be the worst thing for the future of the country, and I worry about that. Conservative governments in the past have proven to be fiscally incompetent.

For example, Conservative governments in the U.S. have proven themselves to be fiscally incompetent. The competence that the Liberals brought to the financial affairs of the country is a model for the world. Ask our G-7 and/or OECD colleagues about that. That is not even to mention inflation.

Over the time that we were in office, inflation was brought under control. This was not done just by the government itself. Nor can the new government take all the credit for what it does, bad or good. It does involve a lot of other people. Canadians worked hard, along with us over the last 12 years, to accomplish what was accomplished.

I would like to go back to the division thing. What really concerns me is that the budget is much more about short term expediencies, what will happen in the months ahead. I am, as are my colleagues, more than ready to face the electorate at the appropriate time.

I mentioned that I had roughly 24 first nations in my riding. We had the Kelowna accord, an accord that was signed, sealed and delivered by the premiers of the provinces and territories, by the aboriginal, Métis and Inuit leadership and by the prime minister of the day. To see that accord tossed out the window is a damaging for the relationship between Canada and its aboriginal peoples.

Our aboriginal people deserve respect. They deserve to be at the table. It was a historic meeting in Kelowna where provincial, territorial, national and aboriginal leaders were together for the first time. They made breakthroughs that were historic. I really hope that the very small down payment that the government made in its budget is followed up with further action and a commitment to follow through on the over $5 billion that was committed to in Kelowna. We are really counting on that. We will give the government the benefit of a little more time, but it is barely 20% there on that commitment.

I am worried about our regions. There was no mention that I recall about regional economic development. In northern Ontario--

[Joe McGuire, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Or anywhere else.

[Brent St. Denis, Liberal, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

For that matter, anywhere else, but in northern Ontario, FedNor does a lot to assist our communities with improvements and its ability to attract new people, tourists and industry.

We have had no negative words so far, but I hope the absence of encouragement is not a bad thing. I really hope that we will see more encouragement from the government in future budgets, should we get there, and in other future announcements. We hope to see more encouragement that FedNor and programs like it in the Atlantic provinces and the west will be there to support our communities and to promote small, medium and large businesses right across this country, especially in our rural regions.

In forestry, there has been a recent agreement, not a good agreement but an agreement made to put aside the softwood lumber discord with the U.S. Sadly, $1 billion is going to be kept by the U.S., half of which will be paid out to the softwood lumber industry in the U.S. to be used to compete and fight with our own industry here in Canada. It is a deal that is regrettable, but in stepping back and looking at it, given the fact that the U.S. administration has treated previous administrations no better than it has treated this administration, it was about all we could actually expect.

I had hoped that in the budget there would have been more support for the forestry sector in terms of diversification, co-generation and R and D, the kinds of things that are needed to ensure that the moneys their American competitors are keeping can be compensated for here in support of our own industry.

When it comes to health and the agreement made by our previous administration with the provinces, which made major commitments of billions of dollars to help the provinces and territories with health care, all this government has done is really parrot what we had done previously. There is no new money in this budget for health care, particularly for waiting times.

It is very important that we back up what we say with actual resources. The provinces and territories are basically on their own now when it comes to waiting times. We had made a $42 billion commitment over 10 years to health care. My colleague can nod his head and tell me if I am right or wrong, but I think it was $42 billion over 10 years, a fantastic investment. Clearly, this government was satisfied with what we did because it did not add a nickel more to that undertaking.

Let me talk a little about the importance of productivity in this country. The basis of our productivity is in education, R and D, and investment in bringing to commercialization some of the great ideas that come from our enterprising entrepreneurs and scientists in this country.

There was a modest investment made for textbooks. I think it is about $78 a year for textbooks for students. Every little bit will help, but compared to the billions that we had committed for R and D to continue our race to become the world's leader when it comes to brain power and raising the standard of living not only for ourselves but the rest of the world, I am afraid the government has sidelined us on that effort.

Hopefully, if it gets another budget under its belt, the government will address this major failing which is in the area of education and development of our brain power, including bringing into the fold the aboriginal youth who are so important to the future of this wonderful nation.

On tax cuts, let us compare the efforts we made over the years with tax cuts of $160 billion targeted to the low and middle income Canadians. With this GST cut, people who are rich are going to get a bigger GST savings than those who are poor. If I could afford to buy a $100,000 boat, I would save a lot of GST. Unfortunately, I cannot afford that, but some people can and they will save a lot of money.

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, we have listened to the members opposite in this debate and they frequently go back to 1993. It is unfortunate that part of their memory does not really include the big picture in 1993.

Among the other things that the previous Liberal government inherited in 1993 was a free trade agreement, the GST, and a budget laid out by the previous government that directed the future. It was also in 1993, when we were near the end of perhaps the worst recession the world had seen since the 1930s. The Liberals happened to inherit a changing economy and a changing world. Employment was going up in all the free world. It was not a great deal of what the Liberals did; it is what happened in the rest of the world.

The member opposite talks about what the Liberals would have done and what that party was going to do. He comes from a riding that is fairly broad, as he says, and well laid out across a great part of our country. It is an important part of our country. The Liberals were prepared to put $5 billion into child care spaces. Would the member opposite tell us how many child care spaces were to be created in his riding?

[Brent St. Denis, Liberal, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, going back to 1993, with the exception of a few people, most people believe in protectionist free trade. Sadly, with the softwood lumber agreement, if he wants to call it that or a cave in, there is no free trade in softwood lumber. I believe in free trade; I also believe in fair trade. I believe in trade where both sides treat each other with respect and equality, and that we obey the laws that we have both signed on to.

The member refers to a changing economic or financial paradigm around 1993. I do not recall that things changed overnight. Conditions did not go from bad to good overnight. Presumably, the economy is good now. There were bad times. Presumably, the government, with the cooperation of Canadians, put in place the right policies which allowed for the sails of the country's ship to be filled and for this country to sail forward very quickly.

However, when it comes to child care, I am surprised by the number of people who have written to me in my riding complaining about this government's absolute rejection of any notion that a public--

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I am sorry, but I must give time to other members who wish to ask a question. The hon. member for Wild Rose.

[Myron Thompson, Conservative, Wild Rose, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have a quick question. Perhaps we will get some more questions. The member talked about the Kelowna accord. The member never talked about the fact that during the 1990s there was money in Liberal budgets every year to deal with the squalor, unemployment, addictions, and terrible conditions that existed on many reserves across the country, and how the Liberals would fix that.

That party had 13 years to fix these problems. Now it is no different; nothing has changed. Why did the Liberal government not deliver on its promises to help these natives and aboriginals on their reserves over those 13 years? The Liberals failed dismally, and I would like to know why?