Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak to the motion raised by the member for Markham—Unionville. I am also pleased that my colleague, the member for Nepean—Carleton, is sharing his time with me today.
Part of retaining a strong economic and fiscal position is an ongoing commitment to managing program spending and ensuring that programs are reviewed every year to ensure that Canadian taxpayers are getting value for their money.
Our position comes down to two essential elements.
Inefficiencies are bad and redirecting money from inefficiencies is good.
I am not surprised that this proposal was made by my opposition colleague, the hon. member for Markham—Unionville.
The choices they made during their mandate resulted in exaggerated increases in government spending that our economy cannot sustain over the long term unless, of course, the members opposite want to raise taxes.
In fact, this year we have seen program spending actually decline for the first time in nine years. I want to emphasize that Conservatives said we would save $1 billion a year by cutting wasteful and ineffective programs, and we did just that.
As stated by John Williamson of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation in the September 29 Ottawa Citizen, “The majority of Canadians will applaud the government's plan to pay down of the federal debt and a $1-billion spending cut to some awful programs--”. I underline awful programs.
Don Drummond, in an editorial on September 27 when talking about accusations that the cuts were political, stated that “This is utter silliness...It's true that taxes could have been lowered instead of paying down the debt, but the real culprit keeping the tax burden high has been rapid program spending growth”.
We have eliminated ineffective programs, those that failed to deliver value for money and saved funds that were going unused. We have reduced the debt by $13.2 billion, thanks to solid economic growth, curbing the traditional last quarter spending spree, and through a review of ineffective programs.
What is so beneficial to taxpayers and the economy from paying down that level of debt is the annual interest savings of $660 million. That saving is in perpetuity for Canadians, meaning that every year from this time forward Canadians will be freed from paying interest charges that actually provide no program value.
As stated by Mr. Drummond when referring to the debt repayment saving $660 million, “And that goes on forever. So you're freeing up $660 million for tax cuts or other priorities”.
The previous government wanted to be all things to all people. The Liberals never could say no, not even to very bad ideas, such as the sponsorship scandal, the gun registry, and the annual megaconvention they hold every March.
We have been able to reduce debt, cut taxes, and say yes to more resources for child care and safer streets, all because we have been able to say no to special interests and programs that do not work.
Canadians expect the government to invest their money in successful programs that meet their needs. They know that over the past few years, Ottawa spent too much money on too many unnecessary things—expenses that were completely unjustifiable.
In budget 2006 we promised that we would review our programs to ensure every taxpayer dollar was well spent. To me this is another case of a promise made and a promise kept. By getting a more modern approach to managing our budgets versus the dated approach used by the last government, we are going to spend more money efficiently on safer streets, cleaner air and secure borders.
As the House knows, our review established a goal to secure $1 billion in savings. When we look at this, it is heartening to know that $379 million of the savings will come from programs of unused funds that already achieved their objectives or had a lower than expected take up. For example, we are saving $5.6 million because it did not cost as much to move the Canadian Tourism Commission to Vancouver as estimated. Also, an additional $265 million was found from efficiencies just by streamlining programs.
Therefore, of the $1 billion in savings, two-thirds come from what we would call low hanging fruit or what I would call easy pickings. I would say that the previous government obviously did not do a very good job of executing their expenditure review over the last few years if we could find $650 million that quickly and easily.
Next, we found programs that were not meeting the priorities of Canadians. For example, we will save $4 million, as the parliamentary secretary said, through the elimination of funding for research of medical marijuana. Our government has made commitments to health research and I share the view that the federal government does not need to tell professional researchers what to study.
Through a combination of these program savings and tighter management, we are trimming fat and refocusing spending on the priorities. Our government is keeping its promise to families and taxpayers by reigning in spending and reducing the national debt.
Asking public servants to do more with less is not the right approach.
Rather, we must ensure that their efforts are focused on necessary programs that produce results.
Once again, in last spring's budget, we promised to invest in programs that better address Canadians' priorities. This program keeps that promise.
What is lost in all the noise in the House over the last couple of weeks is that in this year's budget we committed to spending an additional $5 billion per year on programs to deliver priorities to Canadians and $1 billion of that new spending is coming from savings derived from existing programs.
The government is investing $1.5 billion over two years in regional economic development and $3.7 billion over the same time period for the universal child care benefit. Many rural families in my riding of Tobique—Mactaquac, who will never have the opportunity to take advantage of regulated day care opportunities, are pleased with our government initiative to help families, including agriculture and forestry families.
There are also small business tax cuts which impact many women who are small business owners. We are committing $81 million over the next two years for a literacy program and over $300 million for immigration settlement, which affects people in my riding and the Multicultural Association of Carleton County. There is $63 million for sector counsel programs that support workplace, skills and literacy programs in key economic sectors and $73 million over two years for workplace skills initiatives. These are all examples of the government's commitment to the development of people and skills.
To keep moving forward, we must review programs continuously and make smart spending choices. This means that all programs, both current and new, will systematically undergo the same rigorous evaluation process.
This will ensure that the government approves funds that are actually needed to achieve major results in a way that is effective and provides value for money on behalf of Canadians.
Obviously, with the $650 million of low hanging fruit being left on the tree by the previous government, I can only conclude that it was good at spending and not so good at managing spending, sort of like the farmer who could not run the hen over the manure pile.
I will close with a couple of points. Our cabinet undertook a review that we promised in the last budget and we have delivered on what we said. Managing spending and debt must become a key competency of any government. I would say that Kevin Dancey of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants had it right when he said:
Debt and interest charges are a tax on future generations and with aging demographics we need to set the benchmark higher in reducing the national debt-to-GDP ratio. We are pleased to see Ministers Baird and Flaherty take action.
Second, and very comforting testimony for me--
