People worldwide like our loonie. Is it because we have more gold in the country since winning all those Olympic medals? Nope.

There are a couple of reasons. I'll use people in Russia and the USA as examples of why Canuck bucks are attracting attention.

First, off to Moscow. Last week there was an article in a financial paper making an interesting observation. It was reflecting on some of Russia's fiscal woes. Then came the interesting comment. It said that their central bank was going to add strength to its own reserves by buying Canadian dollars.

Units of money are just like any other product. If people think a particular currency has value then they will be interested in buying it. Because chances are good it will hold its worth.

Why do they think the Canadian dollar will hold its worth as compared let's say to Japanese currency? One of the key reasons is that the amount of our national debt is a lot lower than Japan's (and lower than most other countries' debt by the way).

A country's debt load is compared to the total value of all the goods and services produced in a year in that country. That total of all goods and services produced in a year is known as the Gross Domestic Product, or GDP.

So just as an example, let's say the country of Pandora (sorry all you Avatar fans) has an annual GDP of $10 Billion. And let's say the government has been borrowing money every year just to run all the government programs like health care, education and defense (to fight off all those nasty people from planet Earth). And let's say the amount of Pandora's government debt is $5 Billion.

Then the bean counters who actually sit around all day and measure this stuff would say this, "Pandora's Debt is $5 Billion and its GDP is $10 Billion.” Since its debt is 50% of its GDP then they would say its debt to GDP ratio is 50%.

The debt to GDP ratio of a country is used by people all the time to evaluate what kind of economic shape a particular country is in. The bigger the debt the more money the government has to pay every year to service that debt.

The more money a country has to pay to creditors the less that country is able to spend on essential programs for its citizens, like health, education and defending against earthlings and other invaders.

Also, when a government has to pay a big percentage of its revenues on debt it is tempted to raise taxes on workers and business to get even more money to pay that debt. And as taxes get higher, workers get discouraged and lose incentive and business people look to other places to do business.

So you can see that a high debt to GDP ratio is a job killer and leads to higher unemployment and therefore, less taxes to service the debt. It becomes a very vicious circle.

Canada's debt to GDP ratio is about 31%. Japan's is 115%! That means its debt is actually bigger than its GDP. Ouch. Imagine trying to make those debt payments.

So, a country like Russia, looking to buy a currency that is not overly bogged down with debt will look to buy Canadian dollars.

For that very same reason the U.S. manager of the largest bond portfolio in the world (worth one TRILLION dollars) recently also had good things to say about our dollar.

He says he is recommending to the investors that he deals with that they should be investing in Canadian markets. That means more economic growth for Canada. More jobs in Canada. More tax revenues coming in without tax rates having to go up.

That means more money to help reduce our debt payments and more money for services like health care etc.

That's called a virtuous circle and that's why we are taking clear steps to keep government spending under control and taxes down.

Hope you like that approach.

Monday morning a week ago the streets of Vancouver were quiet. Quiet? Yes! Especially compared to all the previous nights of the Winter Olympics.

Only hours before, the downtown was jammed with 150 thousand delirious cheering Canadians.

"Can't the afterglow last a little longer?" I thought. I didn't have to wait long for the Olympic flame to rekindle.

Forty-eight hours later I was on Parliament Hill in another crowd. This time, it was cheering, flag waving school kids. They were there to applaud (wildly) our Paralympic athletes who were lighting the torch that would get to 31 Canadian cities on its way to Vancouver.

The Prime Minister greeted our athletes in front of the Peace Tower and wished them all the best in their quest for gold. Like athletes everywhere, each one of our Special Olympians carries a story of overcoming the odds and pressing on with their dreams.

There will be over 50 hours of Paralympic television. Tune in. You will be thrilled by what you see. Go Canada Go!

Talking about gold, the next day the Minister of Finance unveiled about 270 Billion dollars of it in his Budget. Yes, that's a big number. Here's what it looks like in bite size pieces.

Imagine you were given your own portable ATM machine and you were then told you could go shopping. You would be allowed to pull money from the machine at a rate of a thousand bucks an hour, only resting one day a week to respect any local Sunday shopping by-laws.

Do you know how long it would take you to spend a billion dollars at that pace? 375 years! And that's only ONE Billion. We're going to spend about $270 Billion in just one year.

So now you understand why I shake my head when our critics come out exclaiming "There's nothing in this Budget".

It's one thing to disagree on the spending priorities. That's fair comment. But it's another thing to tell the hard working taxpayers there's 'nothing' in the Budget.

Thirty-six Billion dollars for Seniors is not 'nothing'.

Over a Billion for the Dept of the Environment is not 'nothing'.

Our National Defense takes $18 Billion to protect our country. Foreign Aid to help others is $5 Billion. Youth Opportunity and Employment Training programs are in the hundreds of millions…and on it goes.

That's not 'nothing'. It's something!

This Budget also sets us on a course to get rid of the deficit (balance the budget) by 2014/15. Not by slashing the Health and Education transfers to provinces (as a matter of fact we will increase the Health Transfer).

Program funding for Seniors and families will also increase. And not by raising taxes.

Instead, we will put a lid on government operations. All departments 'spending’ will be frozen for the next 3 years. We're also introducing legislation to freeze Minister, MP and Senators' salaries at 2010 levels.

What kind of rating are we getting on our tight fiscal management?

The International Monetary Fund, the World Economic Forum, the OECD and the Economist Intelligence Unit all say we are now in the best position financially of the G-8 countries. International investment advisors are saying Canada is the place to be due to our financial management.

Our debt ratio is the lowest in the G-8. Four of the last six months we have seen the job numbers increase. This last quarter our economic performance surprised analysts with 5% annualized growth.

We're certainly not perfect. We still need to do some things better. But you've told us you expect us to manage responsibly. The same way you've had to.

Thank you for that clear advice. That's the plan.

They expected us as Canadians to be polite and we were.

They expected us to say “sorry” or “excuse me” a lot and we did.

They expected to hear a lot of sentiment about how Canadians perceive competition should be. You know, how it's not winning that matters, it's that you “had a good experience”. Or, "the main thing is that we all came together in a lovely sense of oneness".

Well, those are lofty and important expressions and 'yes', we did feel some of that. But they didn't expect that this time we had no intention whatsoever to 'share the podium'. We were out to own it.

International news commentators and broadcasters were at first amused, then increasingly taken aback that we were serious and as the daily count of Canadian gold piled up on the podium they were outright shocked.

As you've now heard, it was the largest haul of gold medals by any country in the entire history of the Winter Olympics.

All that winning and all of the other performances were a result of an uncompromising focus to win.

That focus doesn't just happen on the day of the event. It is planted and cultivated in the minds of young (and not so young) achievers years before they wait to hear the crack of the starter's gun on the big day.

If you raise up a generation with the thought that having a nice shared experience is the main thing, then guess what? You'll have a future generation that will have a nice shared experience and the rest of the world will get first place.

They'll get first in sports, first in science, first in business, first in high tech, first in job interviews…and on it goes.

I realize from my own experience in sports and competition generally, that you don't always win the gold. And it is absolutely essential to teach the importance of perseverance, fair play, honesty, graciousness whether you win or lose, and all the other noble virtues.

However if you aim for something less than best, you'll hit the lesser target every time.

Our Olympic team aimed for best. They didn't want to settle for less. Look at the heartbroken response of one of our female athletes who wept openly that she felt she had let us down. Or our great cross country skier who sobbed unashamedly that after a fabulous 50 kilometer performance he missed the gold by one and a half seconds.

I wouldn't dare tell these athletes they shouldn't feel that way. Let them experience that moment. You don't have to worry about them.

The very fact they can feel so deeply about not winning the gold means that they have the strength of character to move on to the next challenge.

I say to them ‘Bravo’.

There's another gold level performance that needs to be highlighted. It's the way we celebrated on the streets themselves. I have never in my life seen anything like it.

During the 17 Olympic days (and nights) I had ongoing meetings back and forth from right here in the riding, to Ottawa and back to Vancouver. I didn't get to many of the actual events but I sure got to a lot of the sites.

Watching the final hockey game and the closing ceremonies at the outside live sites with thousands of cheering (okay, screaming) Canadians was a golden experience itself. Walking for hours shoulder to shoulder along Vancouver's main streets in a sea of high fiving, anthem singing, flag waving and stranger hugging humanity was unforgettable.

The police were incredible. They truly kept the peace. Yes, the first weekend a handful of balaclava clad goons tried to steal the limelight but the evenhanded police and the crowds of citizens themselves sent a clear message of intolerance towards these violent intolerant thugs.

The rest is marvelous history.

Positive results are already coming in showing monetary profits for the taxpayer that will be in the millions, job creating numbers in the tens of thousands, infrastructure legacies for generations to come and dream building examples of achievement and hope for every one of us.

O Canada...  

Kristi Richards gave it all, but missed the gold with that last fall. This past Thursday night Val and I caught up with her, Gold medalist Alex Bilodeau and Jenn Heil at a reception in Vancouver. All of her home town fans (including us) can be proud.

Kristi is taking her situation in stride and is ready to continue her very demanding World Cup circuit events. Though she naturally would have loved being on the podium, her smile is still golden and her style is still full of grace and warmth. That goes for Alex and Jenn too. They each took time to sign autographs and chat individually with those of us standing in long lines hoping to get a handshake (or hug) and an exchange of well wishing.

Another 'golden' Canadian whose star always shines brightly is Rick Hansen. He was kind enough to give us a tour of the Athlete's Village and Medical Centre. He was telling us that the teams from all around the world have been blown away by the facilities and by the army of volunteers who are helping them feel at home. You might be interested to know we've been told that the brand new condos the athletes are living in at the Village are now over 60% sold.

The incredible vibe that has taken over the streets of Vancouver just continues to build and spill over into the rest of the country. I've only been able to actually attend one event but I can tell you it's every bit as exciting to watch on the big screens at the outside public sites. It's a great feeling to be standing out there with thousands of other cheering Canadians, stomping our feet and pumping the air and letting the world know that Canada is the place to be.

Meanwhile, back in Ottawa... I was there last Monday to Wednesday, for meetings and planning sessions. Thursday, I attended the Okanagan Business Day in Vancouver at the BC Pavilion. There was an outstanding array of Okanagan producers and entrepreneurs marketing their products and services. Friday and Saturday, I had meetings back here in the riding.

Friday, I joined Mayor Findlater for an announcement of funding for an upgrade to the trail system on the Westside. Saturday morning, I helped out with the official opening at the South Okanagan Multi-Cultural Festival.

Saturday afternoon I met with constituents, including a group of young business guys who had ideas and questions on the economy and upcoming budget. It was encouraging to meet with these young entrepreneurs and get their input.

They have been working hard at surviving the global recession and planning for the future. They want assurance that governments, at all levels, will be keeping spending (and taxes) down. That certainly makes sense as we continue our recovery.

Wrapping up the week was a treat at the Annual Summerland Sportsmen’s Association banquet. Elk roast and sweet and sour moose, all locally prepared, were among the highlights…too good.

This week's schedule as follows: Monday A.M. - Vancouver global business leaders’ conference, then a P.M. flight to Ottawa. Tuesday and Wednesday - Meetings in Ottawa. Thursday - meetings, including a visit to Peachland Rotary. Friday to Sunday - Vancouver meetings and events. I don't have tickets to the hockey final or closing ceremonies but I can tell you it will be 'over-the-top' exciting watching outside on the big screens with thousands of proudly cheering fellow Canadians…especially with Canada in the men's hockey final.

We will be in the final, right Sidney?