Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to support Bill C-10, an act to provide for the borrowing authority.
I enthusiastically support the budget tabled by the finance minister on March 6. It budget sets a course for our future, securing our financial future, securing our social programs, all of it in order to build a strong and united Canada which will be able to compete successfully in the world in the 21st Century.
When the government embarked on this journey some 29 months ago Canada was at a fiscal and economic crossroads as a nation. It was faced with a structural deficit of over $42 billion and a debt of $508 billion which was growing much faster than our economic productivity.
Our social programs were captive to the whims of financial markets and vulnerable to rising interest rates which drove up the cost of servicing the debt, putting increased pressure on medicare, our social safety net and our public pension system.
It is a vicious cycle and it has exacted a heavy toll on Canadians. It sapped consumer confidence. It soaked up our domestic savings. It has increased our foreign indebtedness, reduced our productivity and dried up investment and job creation. We were on an unsustainable course. Quite simply, Canadians had lost faith in the capacity of the federal government to competently manage its fiscal affairs and create a climate for economic growth, investment and job creation.
Over the past 29 months our government has taken dramatic, decisive and disciplined action based on what Canadians told us in their local communities.
We listened when Canadians told us to refocus our spending priorities toward areas that are building blocks for our nation's future in a competitive world marketplace: a sustainable, publicly funded medicare system; a secure social safety net for vulnerable Canadians; an affordable pension system; investments geared to achieving the vast current and future potential for our youth.
The government is on track to meet these deficit targets: $24.3 billion in 1996-97. The deficit will be reduced 60 per cent over four years through fundamental and structural changes in our spending habits, the lowest level since 1949-50.
Over the past three years cumulative spending reductions have outstripped tax revenue measures by a ratio of seven to one. Six hundred and four thousand jobs have been created since we took office. There is further action in budget 1996.
Budget 1996 takes steps to put our social programs on a sustainable and affordable path. We have established a floor level for cash transfers under the Canada health and social transfer and we have put in place a five-year funding allocation arrangement which recognizes for the first time population growth in provinces such as Alberta.
We have established a new seniors benefit that will ensure future generations will reap the benefits of their contributions to the country. We have revamped the child support system to secure a future for children, our most valuable resource.
These are major achievements which resulted from our political will and our commitment to listen to the collective wisdom of Canadians.
On the evening of budget 1996 I held a budget round table in Edmonton East. It included small business owners, students, seniors, representatives from community associations and agencies. After watching the budget speech we conferences by telephone to discuss the impacts on Edmonton East. The general collective wisdom was that the budget took a careful and balanced approach to reducing the deficit by putting the interests of people first.
Round table participants pointed out that reducing the deficit was simply a means to an end. It creates positive conditions for economic growth, investment and job creation, and it improves the standard of living for all Canadians.
This shows the effectiveness of the government program review, the process designed to ensure that taxpayer dollars are value for money and are allocated to people's priorities.
Program review is not only about spending less money, but spending it wisely, more effectively and more efficiently by measuring the results achieved. There has been a fundamental difference between the carefully measured approach toward getting the fiscal house in order and the slash and burn approach of the Reform Party of Canada.
The government will sustain national standards in medicare and will ensure the viability of the social safety net. It will secure the public pension retirement system for future generations of seniors. It will protect children and target investments toward people and technology. This is what will build the innovative economy needed to compete on the world stage.
The Reform Party of Canada is proposing to reduce benefits to seniors by $3 billion over three years, to reduce funding to unemployment insurance by $3.4 billion, to reduce transfers to the provinces for equalization, health care, post-secondary education and social assistance by $6.5 billion over three years.
While the Reform Party is proposing to eliminate the fiscal deficit over three years, it would create a human deficit of such epic proportions it would hamper Canada's ability to compete effectively. It would leave those who are most vulnerable in Canadian society to fend for themselves, denying them the opportunity to participate and to contribute in building an innovative economy for the future.
What the Reform Party seems to forget is that deficit reduction is more than just numbers. It is about the future of people. When the Reform Party holds up the Klein government as a standard for deficit reduction, it fails to look beyond the numbers.
Fifty-eight per cent of the reduction in Alberta's deficit over four years, or $2.3 billion, comes from increases in personal and corporate tax revenues, oil and gas revenue windfalls, video slot machines, health care premium increases, profit from the provinces own commercial businesses and offloading to local governments.
Let us be clear for the record. The unconditional provincial grant to municipalities in Alberta has been reduced by 69 per cent from $1.74 billion to $58 million over four years. The provincial grant for community and family service support has been reduced by nearly 25 per cent.
Participants in our Edmonton East budget round table were unanimous in their view that slash and burn budgeting is not the answer to achieving long term stability for Canada and security for Canadians.
Measures to reallocate existing program spending toward the SchoolNet program that will ensure affordable access to the information highway for small to medium sized businesses and to encourage education and skill development through employment measures were seen as really positive by Edmonton East.
Although 604,000 jobs were created since the Liberals took office and the unemployment rate has been reduced by 2 per cent, our Edmonton East group wisely pointed out that youth unemployment continues to be far too high, sapping Canada's future economic potential. As one participant said, dealing with the human deficit of youth unemployment should be a priority for the government.
There was general support among the Edmonton East group regarding the government's focus on boosting Canada's innovative capacity as a means for fuelling productivity and growth. The establishment of Technology Partnership Canada will certainly be helpful to areas in Alberta where it is a growing sector of the economy.
Small business owners in Edmonton East share the national problem of securing capital and export markets for their businesses. They comprise 90 per cent of all Alberta businesses and create over 70 per cent of all new jobs on an annual basis. Their continued health and access to capital is absolutely critical.
Since we have come to office, we have done much to assist in this way. We have reduced regulations and paperwork. We have introduced single window business service centres and we continue to reduce the unemployment insurance premiums.
Budget '96 has taken further action. A program will be instituted in which 2,000 computer students will help connect 50,000 small businesses to the Internet. Fifty million dollars in new equity capital will be provided to the Export Development Corporation and $50 million will be projected into the Business Development Bank.
Participants in the Edmonton East Budget '96 round table also indicated their support with the tax fairness and equity measures contained in the budget. No tax increases, not personal, not corporate, not excise, not gas, was seen very positively by our group in Edmonton East. Our intention to consult Canadians on how the business taxation system could be improved was seen as vital. Canadians within their local communities, particularly small business owners, have valuable advice for us on the business taxation review.
Concern was expressed in Edmonton East about giving provincial governments, such as Alberta, increased flexibility over the design and administration of social programs. Many in Edmonton East had experienced firsthand the Klein government's dismantling of the health care system and its attack on the most vulnerable in society, the poor, the sick, the young and the aged.
Participants were relieved to hear the government reaffirm its commitment to sustain Canada's social programs by taking action. The $11 billion floor level for cash transfers was considered favourable. Implementing a five-year funding allocation arrangement for the CHST that emphasizes growth in population is seen also as fair for Alberta.
Ensuring that CHST cash allocations are tied to the provinces upholding the five basic principles of the Canada Health Act and the no minimum residency requirements for social assistance is also positive.
Our Edmonton East group has agreed with the need to set priorities for our future. One key priority is to maintain national standards within social programs, such as medicare, as a means of investing in people. There was absolutely no support for the dismantling of the publicly funded medicare system or massive commercialization or delisting of health care services as has been advocated by the Reform Party.
The Edmonton East group believed that our network of social programs is a reflection of our unique Canadian identity. This is a unity issue. It is an example of how Canadian federalism can work effectively to meet the needs of its citizens.
Edmonton East wants to be involved in the discussions leading to the development of shared values, principles and objectives, those that will underlie the CHST and the social union. They want to ensure that core Canadian values-
