Madam Speaker, I am sharing my time with my colleague, the member for Yukon.
I am delighted to join in this final debate on the budget. In the last couple of days I have been listening with interest to the members on this side speak about the important decisions the government had to make and, as my colleague has said, about the wisdom and thought that went into the budget.
I listened to my hon. colleague across the way talk about how Canadians were absolutely disappointed in the budget. I have to say that was certainly not the case in my riding. If anything, once again this budget demonstrated what the Liberals have come to be known for: a balanced approach that represents all Canadians from coast to coast to coast.
I would like to use my time to speak about the thing that is most important to me. Everyone has had their opportunity to speak about what they did not like about the budget or to highlight some of the very important things the budget undertakes. I would like to use my prebudget consultation report and compare it to the final budget.
My consultations were done after September 11. One of the things I am so very proud of is that I represent a riding that I truly believe is a microcosm for the country. It is one of the most culturally and economically diverse ridings in Canada. It is an urban riding, but I believe it provides a good pulse for what Canadians across the country are saying. It is home to new immigrants and refugees, people who have come to Canada to get away from intolerance, start a new life, build a new life and make Canada their home. It is home to many immigrants.
Madam Speaker, like you, I was born in Canada but I am first generation. My parents came to the country in 1951, fleeing from the war, having lived in a DP camp. They started a life here and I have been a beneficiary of their hard work. It was my parents, through their hard work, who gave me the ability to go to school, get an education and become a lawyer. Through their wisdom, their knowledge and their teaching, they gave me the courage to actually run to become a member of parliament and to come here and try to make a difference.
Let me talk a little more about my community. It contains many types of communities. It has many communities that are in transition, many that have been beneficiaries of HRDC programs such as the industrial adjustment program. There are wonderful success stories there. It also contains communities that have been revitalized. It contains people who are actually involved in their community. It is also very culturally rich. When I say culturally rich I mean that it is home to many artists, actors, writers, directors and producers. It is very vibrant that way. It has at least six business improvement area associations and also has the very first BIA that is based not on the retail industry but on technology. It is the very first one in Canada.
I would say that my community represents a lot of communities across Canada. Like those of many of my colleagues on both sides of the House, my community also contains people who are very committed to their communities, who love our country and who are very proud to be Canadian.
The results of my 2001 consultations were very different from those of any previous consultations that I have conducted. I have been doing these consultations every year since my election. The Standing Committee on Finance has encouraged all members to hold consultations, town hall meetings and community groups. It actually uses the reports that we send to the committee. They are tabled in the standing committee report on the budget.
I know that the opposition has talked a lot about what happened to paying down the debt, saying that there is nothing in here about paying down the debt. I have to say that in the past few years one of the top priorities was, and I stress the word was, paying down the debt. That was not the case this year. It was nowhere on the radar screen.
This year's top priority was preventing or at least ameliorating the effects of a possible recession and the global transition we are going through. The second priority, as a result of the tragic events of September 11, was increased spending for security measures, but the answer was that the measures must be strategic and we must be careful not to overreact. People in my community also said that the government must continue to help Canada's poorest people and, besides that, look beyond our own communities and think about reinvesting in and helping the lesser developed countries of this world.
Interestingly enough, my constituents, who came to a number of these consultations, also said that the government should not just spend but should look for new and innovative partnerships with the private sector. How can we increase private sector giving and make that sector part of the solution? They were looking for partnership. People understand that the government cannot do things alone. It is important to remember that this is what the Liberal Party is all about. It is about building partnerships with everyone in the community.
While debt repayment was still viewed as important in the long term, I want to stress that running surpluses to pay it down was clearly seen as much less of a priority at this time. As well, there were very few calls for a return to deficit financing.
My consultations resulted in four basic key recommendations. First, this government must invest in anti-recessionary programs. Second, it must enhance security measures, but strategically. Third, it must provide assistance for low income Canadians. Fourth, it must ensure continued funding for the arts and recognize just how important the arts are for the quality of life in Canada.
When the Minister of Finance addressed the House on December 10, the importance and the intent of this budget were made absolutely clear from the outset when he stated:
The focus of this budget, therefore, is dealing with this uncertainty and managing through this period of global weakness.
The finance minister went on to say that the budget also had four goals in mind. One was to ensure the necessary funding for security measures to deal not just with the threats we in Canada were facing, but the threats facing people around the world. The second was the recognition of the vital importance of an open Canada-U.S. border. The third was that we must continue to build for the future. The fourth was to provide Canadians with full and open accounting.
Immediately after the budget was tabled, I was caught off guard when my hon. colleague, the opposition critic, spoke to the budget. One thing that absolutely caught me off guard was that the member for Calgary Southeast first lambasted the government about funding for the CBC. We know where the opposition stands on the issue of the CBC. It does not see it as one of Canada's most important national cultural institutions. It does not see how it connects Canadians from sea to sea to sea or how it provides us with our identity. Especially after September 11 it is so important that we as Canadians have our own perspective, not the perspective of CNN and the Americans.
The arts was not cut this time in the budget and we are very lucky in that way, because usually when something is seen as floppy it is the first thing to go. This budget re-established the commitment made on May 2 by this government to continue reinvesting $560 million in the arts. This is an investment in our communities, our children, our identity, our innovation and our competitiveness.