Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says people across Canada are telling him that access to credit is the most important issue currently facing our economy.
Flaherty has hosted a number of meetings with stakeholders ahead of his Jan. 27 federal budget.
Speaking to CTV's Canada AM, he said thousands of Canadians have weighed in on the issue.
"The number one issue is access to credit, access to financing," Flaherty said.
"That affects everybody. It affects individuals about car loans, house mortgages, small businesses and large businesses as well. We've seen the leasing market contract substantially, particularly in the auto sector."
The main objective of a new private-public working group, in fact, will be to find ways to keep credit flowing, Flaherty said.
"We want them to work with the private banking sector -- which is strong -- to find ways to make sure we have good access to credit access, to financing in this country, and as I say they'll work on that the next week or so," Flaherty said.
"That's their focus."
Flaherty said the government's plan for the economy will provide for those with the lowest incomes, care of people who require Employment Insurance, and flow money quickly to infrastructure projects.
The government has signalled it is willing to enter deficit in order to balance the books, but not a long term, so-called structural deficit.
Flaherty also suggested Tuesday that infrastructure spending on projects like roads and bridges may not be enough to jolt the economy back to life, and further tax cuts are also under consideration.
One of the groups Flaherty met with on Tuesday, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, maintains Flaherty should avoid deficit at all costs.
Kevin Gaudet cited polls that suggest most Canadians would prefer a government spending cut, over a deficit.
The group also opposes the notion of bailouts for private industry, such as the auto makers, and is instead calling on the government to reduce taxes for individuals and Canadians to encourage economic activity.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, however, is encouraged by the direction Flaherty appears to be taking.
The group has drafted an alternative budget that would include $32.9 billion in stimulus spending.
The group's Armine Yalnizyan, said the government must act on a grand scale to prevent the economy from slipping into "freefall."
"When you've got banks not lending, and businesses not wanting to produce more because prices are falling and people aren't buying, and consumers looking at their own budgets and trying to balance them and prepare for a rainy day, the only actor left in this equation that is left to start spending and keep the economy from going into freefall, is the government," Yalnizyan told Canada AM.
