My hon. colleague just said they are smart kids. With all due respect to the minister across the way, they are smart kids, and to take them from us simply out of necessity and forget what they are coming from is a shame.
As well, the licence buyback was not addressed in this budget, which is what disappointed me most. Are they smart kids for leaving my province? No, it is out of necessity. It does not make them brilliant, but it makes them energetic and industrious, and we want that in Newfoundland and we want that in Labrador. This government is a national government. It is not set up for one particular province or one particular area; it is set up from coast to coast to coast.
The other industry I talked about is forestry. In central Newfoundland right now it is one of those industries that gets overlooked. There is a forest industry in paper products. It is also having tough times right now. In the last session of Parliament, we put forward some fantastic measures in forestry for implementation in the smaller communities that are faced with an incredibly bad newsprint market, the high dollar and, of course, a depressed market in the newsprint industry. We made some solid gains.
I did not see many of them show up in this particular budget, but I hope that down the road they will. I have one glimmer of hope in that, because I do respect the former minister, with whom I have had several discussions about these forestry initiatives. I thank him for his sincerity.
I also would like to talk about seasonal work. EI reforms are absolutely necessary for the smaller communities to survive. We need the best 12 weeks and 360 hours. This is something we need in order for these communities to survive. We have had pilot projects that have worked. The question was asked in the House if the extra five weeks on a claim is good for seasonal workers. Go forward with that, I say. Now is the time. Time is wasting. The season goes on.
I have one final point and that is the Atlantic accords. Let me read for members something from the budget that is very alarming: “The confidence of Canadians in the overall fairness of federal programs has been undermined....”. As for the chief example used, the February 2005 agreements to provide Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador additional fiscal equalization, it is called a mistake.
I hope that in the negotiations over equalization our dreams and aspirations over the Atlantic accord will not be discarded. I do believe Newfoundland and Labrador is the jewel of the North Atlantic and that we will always prosper.