The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, today initiated this year’s pre-budget consultations in Victoria with a roundtable discussion with community and business leaders. This roundtable marks the launch of a series of events in communities across the country aimed at engaging Canadians in discussions about their priorities and ideas for achieving the best use of taxpayers’ dollars in the lead-up to the 2013 budget.
“Our Government’s top priority is jobs, growth and long-term prosperity,” said Minister Flaherty. “In the face of a fragile global economy, we will maintain our focus on supporting a strong economy, building on our pro-growth initiatives and returning to balanced budgets before the end of this Parliament. With these consultations, I am looking forward to hearing from Canadians on how best to achieve these objectives.”
In addition to the roundtables, which will be hosted by Minister Flaherty, Minister of State (Finance) Ted Menzies and Parliamentary Secretary Shelly Glover, Canadians are also invited to submit their views online beginning today.
“We will be asking Canadians what concrete actions can be taken to strengthen our economy in the face of global economic threats, to solidify our economic recovery and position Canada to compete and prosper over the long term,” said Minister Flaherty. “We need to hear more specifics from Canadians in terms of how to further encourage private sector growth and leadership in the economy. These are challenging questions for challenging times and I look forward to engaging Canadians in discussing them.”
The Minister reiterated that the Government will not engage in dangerous and risky new spending schemes or endless spending that will increase deficits and will not increase the tax burden on Canadians.
Those interested in participating in the online consultations may do so by following the link at the top of this page. Details on subsequent regional roundtables will be released as they become available.
