Mr. Chair, on one side, I understand fiscal prudence, and that makes sense. It is unfortunate that we're placed in a situation, since we do have the mandate, as you rightly pointed out. I would also point out that the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Finance, for every single question I ask in the House of Commons, base their whole argument on why their budget is good for Canada on the premise that they travelled from coast to coast to coast in unprecedented consultations.
We will not have the ability to do that as a committee of the House of Commons with a specific mandate to do pre-budget consultations. I would lodge my complaint that this has happened, and I would respectfully request this be communicated back through the members of Parliament here who have more connections with the Government of Canada than I do.
It does seem to be a difficulty for us to be able to forcefully indicate that we are hearing the will of Canadians if we don't have the ability to visit those Canadians where they live, and given that is exactly why the legitimacy of the budget has been claimed by the minister. He travelled. The parliamentary secretary travelled. Therefore, their budget is legitimate because they listened to Canadians. Yet our ability to travel is being curtailed.
That's my point of view on it, and I'm happy to hear what other members have to say.