OTTAWA--Prime Minister Jean Chretien, during both the 1997 and 2000 federal election campaigns, promised that future "fiscal dividends" (the underlying budget surpluses resulting from economic growth and a shrinking debt burden) would be spent in a balanced "50:50" manner. Half would be re-invested in social priorities such as more funding for health care, education, and poverty reduction, and the other half would go jointly to tax cuts and debt reduction.