Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to rise today and participate in the prebudget discussion. I will be sharing my time with my hon. colleague, the member for Hillsborough.
This is a great opportunity to stand up and share with members of the House of Commons the results of the prebudget consultation, which I conducted during the late summer and early fall. In fact, since being elected in 1997, I have conducted prebudget consultations every year, to the point that my constituents actually call and want to know when they will be happening. They are always quite interested in participating.
One thing we also always do with the prebudget consultations is look at the input and then the effect that the consultations have had on the final budget. I would say that over the last five years my constituents in Parkdale—High Park have been quite happy with the results.
Let me explain a little about how the prebudget consultations work in my riding. I will go through how the process was started, the main points that are raised and look at how the consultations change from year to year. Then I would like to elaborate on one of the issues that the finance committee put before all Liberal members. The committee asked us to go out and talk to our constituents and listen to what they wanted to hear.
There were two things the committee asked us to find out. One was how Canada could best ensure greater levels of economic prosperity to be widely shared by all Canadians. The second was how the federal government could best ensure the highest quality of life for all. I would like to elaborate on the second point. If there is time remaining I want to speak in relation to that issue and about how important I and the people who live in my riding feel that continued investment in the arts is, and how it is integral to the quality of life, not just for individual Canadians but also for communities.
My office always asks a third question: If there are any discretionary funds, what would constituents suggest the government do with them? For example, we asked if the government should go into additional spending, look at tax cuts or look at paying down the debt.
In my riding the process starts when we send out questionnaires to the 300 or 400 people who have participated so far. We highlight the prebudget in our householder. We also make sure that the householder is dropped off at all community events. We distribute budget charts along with the prebudget consultation so that people can actually see where the money is coming in, where it is being spent and also where it might best be spent.
Let me start with the main points raised in this year's consultation. This year the main consensus was for increased social spending in the areas of health care and urban infrastructure such as public transit and low cost housing. As well, debt repayment, which has been the top priority in my constituency from 1997 to 2000, was still very widely advocated although it was not viewed as being of the same priority as perhaps social programs were.
I must admit that there were relatively few calls for further tax cuts at this time. It is important to note that many constituents believed that the federal government had sufficient resources for both social investments and debt repaying and that there did not have to be a trade-off between the two. No one suggested that the government should ever go into deficit to finance what it is that we want to undertake.
Investment in our artistic sector and cultural industries continues to be well supported by my constituents. Many constituents see a vibrant artistic and cultural sector as increasingly important in today's world of globalization. Accordingly, they value supporting the CBC and our artistic creators and maintaining and improving our cultural infrastructure. They also felt it was vital to continue the reinvestment in the arts that the government first announced in May 2001.
Other measures receiving considerable support included environmental programs, assistance for low income families, reduction in employment and professional barriers confronting new immigrants, job creation and also defence.
While the calls for significant tax cuts were relatively few, several constituents favoured allowing cities to levy direct taxes.
What were the changes from previous consultations? From 1997 to 2000 there was a fairly uniform consensus, with debt repayment, increases in health care spending and programs for lower income Canadians, and cultural investments being the top priorities. My 2001 consultations largely took place after September 11 and the top priorities at that time were anti-recessionary programs, security measures and support for low income Canadians.
This year there were many more calls for a larger federal role in urban infrastructure projects. A tie-in to environmental measures was also more pronounced. For example, public transit spending was often recommended to reduce air pollution rather than just to facilitate travel between urban centres.
The advocacy for increased defence spending is also relatively new, notwithstanding the results from 2001.
In the time I have remaining I would like to look at the issue of how the federal government can best assure the highest quality of life for all.
On May 2, 2001, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Sheila Copps--