Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to speak in support of the Liberal Party of Canada and its initiatives and plans for Canada on issues that are exceptionally important.
The Liberals have been in power since 1993. At the time we came to power, the economic state of the nation was, to put it mildly, a mess. There was a deficit of over $42 billion and there were huge debts. There was a lack of confidence in the economy as well as a lack of confidence in the institutions themselves, whether it was parliament or the government itself. As well, there was a high unemployment rate in excess of 10%. Inflation was at an all time high. Bankruptcies were in the hundreds of thousands in almost every single sector of the economy. The international community's confidence in our economy was on shaky ground to a large extent. The picture was not very pretty.
The people of Canada gave us the opportunity and the mandate to govern. This government, in a three step approach, has taken a number of initiatives which I will put in a global setting.
The first step the Prime Minister and his government took was to restore confidence in the institution. To that extent, the government undertook one of the most dynamic and pragmatic analysis ever of almost every single program at the national level. In essence, the objective of that analysis was to find out in terms of plans or programs what should be in the federal domain and what should be in the provincial domain. A number of good things came out of that objective.
Also, the Government of Canada decided to let go in excess of 42,000 public servants, which caused a lot of harm in this community and this region. However, the government did that because it felt that it first had to clean its own house and set its own affairs in order.
Second, the government brought back confidence on the economic front. To that extent, the government had an exceptionally aggressive strategy to encourage trade and to look at every single segment of the Canadian economy, the manufacturing sector as well as the service sectors and others, in order to figure out the things that were necessary to put in place in order to support those sectors.
The government thus adopted a policy of low interest rates, without dictating to the Bank of Canada what should and should not be done. The government also embarked on a major infrastructure program, which created hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country. This program was exceptionally popular. The federal government provided one-third of the funding, the province put in a third and the municipalities put in a third. The program generated an economic stimulus across Canada. It created jobs and helped municipalities undertake projects they would not otherwise have undertaken.
The third thing for the government to do is to start investing in the future, based on the results of the first and second steps undertaken by the government. We have moved from a situation of having a $42 billion deficit and a huge debt to a situation where, for the first time in a long time, we have a surplus. When the government started to generate the surplus we were able, for the first time in a long time, to start, at the turn of this century, to pay down the national debt. Our house is in order, public trust in the national institutions has increased and is in place and the economy is moving forward. Now that the Liberal Party has been elected for the third time, it is time for investment. That brings me to the third point, which to a large extent is the Speech from the Throne, which the House of Commons is now debating.
It makes me very proud, first as a Canadian and second as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada, to see such a wonderful initiative put forward by the Prime Minister and his team. It makes me proud to be a Canadian and proud to be a member of this House. When I heard the Speech from the Throne I felt good and I thought, wow, it is really wonderful to be a member of this nation, this party and this parliament.
We will bring about very positive and managed change for Canadians over the next few years. We will see investments accelerating in areas that are exceptionally important and close to the heart of every Canadian. One case in point is the investment in education and training, in lifelong learning. The ability of a citizen to go back to school with government support, regardless of his or her age, is a wonderful thing.
Not too long ago the government initiated a $400 maximum investment per child for each $2,000 a parent invested in an RESP. That was a wonderful initiative, which will go a long way. With a situation like the one we have in Canada, where close to 25% of people have difficulty reading an application form or properly reading, writing or performing a very simple mathematical skill, it is high time for government at the federal, provincial and municipal levels to take initiatives to bring about positive change in the lives of our people. In 1986 a business study showed that the cost of illiteracy to the economy was in excess of $10 billion annually. That is the direct cost, but the indirect cost of illiteracy to the nation is huge, in the tens of billions. To that extent, it is exceptionally important for the Government of Canada to embark on a program such as this one.
I bring up this point in order to say that it is only one good initiative the government has undertaken. There are a number of other initiatives on which I am sure my colleagues will elaborate in their own speeches. I was delighted, however, to see the Government of Canada embarking on this magnificent initiative. I know my constituents in Ottawa Centre will be thrilled to know that not only will they now be able to save for their children's education and have the government provide them with incentives and support, they can also do it for themselves.
