Mr. Speaker, it is with pleasure that I rise today to talk about the first report of the Standing Committee on Finance.
First I would like to talk about the process because the content of the report is only as good as the process that preceded it. Coming from Women's College Hospital in Toronto where the motto was non quo sed quomodo, it is not what we do but how, I would like to celebrate the fact that this is a process by which our Liberal government can be extraordinarily proud.
No longer, as with previous governments, does the budget get written in secret after a series of one on one meetings with the finance minister, clearly influenced only by those who were able to secure such a meeting, largely because of their elevated positions in society.
With all the committee hearings and submissions and the town hall meetings held by 62 of our members of parliament, we feel that Canadians have been properly consulted. It is not surprising therefore that the Minister of Finance's budgets are so well received when people can see their own advice in the budgets as they are tabled.
As the member of parliament for St. Paul's I believe that the best antidote to the cynicism and apathy that really threatens our democracy is a commitment to real consultation and the participation of citizens in the policy process. Citizen engagement must be genuine and it is not good enough that governments and parliamentarians consult. Citizens must feel that they are being given the opportunity to actually shape public policy.
Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Oak Ridges.
Peter Newman said that politics in Canada has always been the art of making the necessary possible. Therefore deciding what is necessary must be a political decision. Deciding what is necessary must be done by politicians in true partnership with the citizens.
The prebudget consultation is an excellent example of a process whereby all Canadians have the opportunity to provide input into the priorities that define our country. The budget making process is where we receive input into the tools we have at our disposal to help ensure that the necessary becomes possible: debt retirement, taxation as well as tax relief, and strategic investments in program spending.
This year I had the opportunity to chair four consultations on the budget; a town hall in St. Paul's, an invitational round table in St. Paul's, a special meeting of the Liberal women's caucus with the finance minister, as well as yesterday's round table of the subcommittee on persons with disabilities on the tax treatment of persons with disabilities and families with children with disabilities.
The first such consultation which was submitted to the finance committee was held in St. Paul's on November 8. The clear consensus in the room was that affordable housing was extraordinarily important to all issues around the true disposable income of Canadians, and that all levels of government must do whatever they can to make shelter possible for all Canadians.
There was also a clear consensus on the need for proper tax relief, that the amount of disposable income families have is for snowsuits and snow boots for kids. Families, in particular low and middle income families, need to have money to spend, and this year as we focus on children it should be for their children.
There is no question that in terms of our economy the need for a vibrant and accountable health care system was agreed upon by everyone in the room, as well as employment strategies and a focus on the environment.
While affordable housing and tax relief topped the list of budgetary suggestions at the meeting, it was clear there were underlying issues to be addressed. The constituents of St. Paul's wanted to know that they were receiving good quality social services for their tax investments. They were asking the federal government to take the initiative in protecting the things they value most as Canadians: access to shelter, a quality health care system, employment, and protection of the environment for future generations.
In this new age of surplus, constituents would like to see measurable outcomes that demonstrate that their taxes are being well spent. They would like to have confidence that we will ensure that basic needs of all Canadians are met. They understand that good social spending is also good economic spending and economic policy and will result in a secure future for all Canadians.
At our prebudget round table, it was interesting that a consensus emerged on the need for the federal government to articulate a clear, long term economic and social vision based on Canadian values. Like the finance committee, they felt that we should be rolling out a vision over more than one year. Their issues of greatest concern were tax relief, debt reduction, poverty, homelessness and the children's agenda.
All in attendance felt that the government must lead the way in long term planning, setting outcomes and filling the gaps within a framework that reflects Canadian values. They wanted to ensure that good social policy was viewed as good economic policy. The consensus was that in order for us to maintain a decent social infrastructure, growing the pie and the economic strength of our country are extraordinarily important in reaching that goal.
At the round table, they felt we must ensure that productivity in the growth of the country occurs. It must be addressed in a long term, systemic way. If the government were to articulate long term plans, people would see their needs as being met. The feeling was that the government must not expect to run every aspect of life, but it must recognize clearly where it has a long term impact and harmonize its actions with other levels and partners to ensure its long term success. They wanted frequent reviews of government programs to see how effective they have been upon implementation to ensure that outcomes are being met.
We felt extremely heartened by the new efforts and initiatives of the treasury board to look at outcomes and the performance indicators of those outcomes in terms of the future of smart spending in the country and in knowing that we will fund programs only if they are shown to be, as we used to call in medicine, evidence based practice.
At their meeting the Liberal women's caucus reflected what they had been hearing in their constituencies. It was a very similar shopping list in terms of the budget. A lot of those things have been reflected in the finance committee report.
What was not in the finance committee report but the women's caucus feels strongly about, is that all aspects of public policy, in particular budget items, require a gender based analysis. We must make sure that there is no discrimination of gender by all policies and it must be done before things come to the point of being a budget allocation. We were heartened by the commitment of the Minister of Finance to meet with the Secretary of State for the Status of Women and the President of the Treasury Board to actually look at how that could be articulated.
Yesterday it was extremely interesting to receive the experts on the issue of tax and families with disabilities. I would like to draw members' attention to some of the things that were articulated at yesterday's meeting. I am thrilled that a lot of these things were in the finance committee report, but I would like to underline the things that we feel most strongly about or that there would seem to be consensus at the round table about.
Defending the child tax deduction for parents of children with disabilities would clearly benefit both low and middle income earners. The experts wanted to see an index or an adjustment to the various credits and deductions claimed by persons with disabilities and their families to deal with the increasing cost to them due to the lack of indexation. They wanted more technical aids and services added to the list of expenses for the medical expense tax credit. Clearly there was a consensus to broaden the definition of eligibility in the disability tax credit.
We are particularly concerned about people with cystic fibrosis. For some reason in the current definition of disability, in activities related to daily living, breathing has been left out. People who have a great deal of difficulty breathing are not included in the disability tax credit. We feel that is a modest expansion that would seriously help the 600 to 900 adults with cystic fibrosis to participate as full citizens.
We are requesting that the Canada study grants received by persons with disabilities be not treated as taxable income.
There was interest in a new savings vehicle modelled on the registered retirement savings plan that would encourage private savings to support individuals with mental and physical disabilities.
We think there should be more generous and consistent tax treatment of the costs of attendant care and that the income tax guide should be clarified so that taxpayers with disabilities and their families can more clearly understand the applicable tax measures and act accordingly.
We were thrilled to see in the finance committee report strong support for the renewal of the opportunities fund, and we are hoping for accessibility standards that would become benchmarks in the national children's agenda.
It is extremely heartening to see so many of the social infrastructure programs clearly identified in the finance committee report.