Mr. Speaker, I begin my remarks by noting that this is the third year in a row that members of the House have been invited to participate in a prebudget debate. They have been asked to share with the Chamber and certainly to
share with the Minister of Finance their particular points of view, their advice and their concerns about the direction and the hopes for our country and its fiscal circumstances.
I will make my remarks from two points of view today; one, as a member of the Standing Committee on Finance and, second, as the member of Parliament for Brant. I have recently met with my constituents at one public meeting to talk about the budget and will meet with them again early in the new year to collect more input and advice.
From the point of view of a member of the committee there are three things that have struck me over the course of the prebudget consultations that have been under way since September. First of all, it is very clear to me that there is a different tone in the representations that are being made at the committee table this time around.
If members recall, last year at this time the newspapers were full of the issue of the budget and the fiscal circumstances. As members of Parliament, we were receiving all kinds of representations from constituents, from lobby groups about what we should and should not do, what our strategy should be and what our approach should be.
Very soon after that, in fact as soon as the budget was tabled, all that frenzy melted away because the Minister of Finance had listened. He responded to Canadians. He addressed their concerns with a very effective budget.
That calmness, that understanding, that support for the approach to budgetary strategies continues. The tone since September has been a measured tone, a very supportive tone, one that shows appreciation for the approach the government has taken. It shows appreciation for the strategy of rolling targets. It shows acceptance that the government is going to make its commitment of reducing the deficit to 3 per cent of GDP. It shows support for the fact that conservative assumptions are taken into consideration when preparing the budget package. It shows acceptance of the notion of having a contingency reserve so that as the economy's cycles work their course, that fund will keep us on target to meet the goals that have been set.
The Minister of Finance came to the committee recently and indicated that for 1997-1998 the deficit goal would be improved to 2 per cent of GDP. I strongly support that strategy. I would encourage him again to use conservative assumptions as he prepares his budget for 1995-1996.
The committee was told in several ways and several times over the course of the budget hearings, by economists, by members of the business community, not to forget that Canada is in a cycle and we can anticipate somewhat of a downturn in the near future. I would encourage the minister to consider maybe increasing the contingency reserve that has been addressed to date.
This is all good. The tone is solid. It is supportive of our approach.
There is something else that is interesting. In this set of prebudget debates the focus has turned away from being solely on the deficit to actually talking about the debt. What that says to me is that Canadians are quite confident that the first strategy, the first hurdle; the hurdle of the deficit has been managed and now they want to continue on with good, sound fiscal management and start to attack the debt.
The minister spoke about that, as did many witnesses as well. It is a process, an evolution, a confidence that the government is moving in the right direction.
Third, I would like to point out the issue of quality. The presentations that have been made to the committee over these last few months have been exceptional. They were even better than last year. We in the committee are starting to learn more effective uses of the consultative process. We used the round table as the hon. member before me noted. It is a very effective way of getting Canadians to come together and understand the different perspectives and concerns that people have, their needs and requirements.
However, I would point directly to some of the sectors in our community which have worked so hard to pull themselves together and build a consensus before they come to committee. When they come to the committee they have a single voice. They are very clear in what they are looking for and they make a very pointed and accurate intervention.
The health community came together under HEAL and presented its suggestions to us so that a strong and healthy Canada Health Act can be maintained.
The voluntary sector has done an incredible job over this last year bringing dozens of groups together to build a consensus. It stated that these groups were building so they could be considered as a voluntary sector in this economy. It made some very good representations and suggestions to us that will help us to encourage donations at the moderate level and at the high level from businesses. We have to listen very carefully to this group's representations and give it some time because it is coming together and will provide Canadian society with very valuable contributions and partnerships that should be supported.
I also think of the coalition for private and public partnership where the private sector has come together with public partners and said that they can work together in this notion of privatization-commercialization in identifying where the effective partnerships can be built.
These are the kinds of things that Canadians are doing now as a result of the government's approach to managing the country's fiscal requirements. They are moving in the right direction and I am proud of it.
I would now like to turn to the messages that my constituents are giving me back in the riding of Brant. As I said, we met late in November with a very interesting group of people from all sides of the political spectrum. The message was loudly and clearly heard that Canadians in my community want us to continue on the deficit reduction track, to move toward dealing with the debt, to do it without raising personal income taxes and to manage it on the spending side.
In Ontario, people in my riding are now able to juxtapose the different strategies. The government's strategy is of a balanced, measured, thought out approach that is timed and pitted against goals that are set versus the strategy of the provincial Tory government, in fact almost Reform government, taking a slash and burn approach. There are two different ways of getting to the end and Canadians are saying to do it in the Liberal way.
I need to tell members about individuals in my riding who have suffered as a result of the Tory strategy. They did not know that their social security cheques were going to be cut by 20 per cent. They were not told. If they had been told they would have had to read it in the newspapers and not everyone has those facilities or capabilities. It is unconscionable, inhumane and not what governments are about.
Despite those that say that governments should be managed like businesses, it is just not true. Governments are here for people. Governments have to manage in that fashion. Therefore, I am very proud and certainly support the strategy of the government to take a balanced, measured and stable approach to managing our fiscal house.
One gentleman in our conversation, Mr. Dave Levac, brought up an issue that people are concerned about which is the issue of government accountability. We know we have to do a better job at letting people know what our goals are and about measuring ourselves against our goals. Mr. Levac suggested that ministries, when they do not spend all the money allocated to them over the course of a budgetary period, contribute that directly to deficit reduction. That is not a bad idea but there may be some very complicated and technical administrative costs that are associated with that. However, what my constituents are saying is that government still has a way to go in assuring the Canadian public that it is truly accountable in spending tax dollars effectively. I accept that input. We do have to work more effectively in that regard.
Finally, on a detailed level my constituents very much were supportive of a government that supports the social side, the side that speaks to individuals, the Canadian public. They said that government support to the economy, to industries and business through subsidies, is probably one place where the government should continue to make cuts. Let the market look after itself.
We heard that at length over the course of the hearings in the finance committee where members of the chambers of commerce and different organizations representing business said they could manage more effectively without subsidies. We should, as a government, cut where Canadians are saying they will take cuts. That should be our strategy. I think of Mr. Lobb at the town hall who said: "I appreciate the fact that where the government made cuts was more on the side of business and the economy and less on the side of the social budgetary agenda". That made sense to him.
I suggest that we continue with that strategy. We must remember that governments are here for Canadians. As a government we are opening the back rooms so that Canadians can participate in the budget debate, which is critically important to each and every one of us. We are taking a measured approach, with targets and commitments and we are meeting those commitments. We are creating stability in the marketplace, which is buying us credibility. We must focus on providing social support to Canadians across the country.