Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to address the House on a question I asked recently of the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development about the meanspirited cuts of $55 million from a program that provided support for student employment and community groups in Canada.
The response given by the minister at the time was:
--it is kind of hilarious that the member would be concerned about a few million dollars in cuts to summer career placement.
That is a troubling response to a serious question about a summer student job program that has created hundreds of thousands of jobs for students to help pay for university and college. Cutting $55 million, over half the budget, is not an act of a generous country. It is the act of a narrow-minded thinking government and is rooted in its view of the world that sees no role for government to help people.
For the government, if people do not have the means to better themselves it must be their fault seems to be the government's view.
We often hear issues related to crime in the House. We all know that the government would rather build more prison spaces than day care spaces. On the issue of crime it has been an exercise in propaganda.
There is not one MP in the House who does not want to do something about crime. In my own riding of Dartmouth--Cole Harbour crime is an issue. We need to take measures to deal with repeat and violent offenders, including young offenders.
The recent report on the McEvoy incident was very clear. The Youth Criminal Justice Act works very well but there are some things that we can improve and need to do that. We do not want to throw 10 year old kids in jail like some members opposite. We need a balance because most young people, as we all know, have a huge potential to improve themselves and they may need a little bit of assistance.
The root cause of a lot of crime is the opportunity gap. We wants to deal with the root cause which is often poverty.
This brings us to programs like as the summer career placements program. The Liberal government invested in young people, in programs like summer jobs, so that those most in need can get an education. We all know that education and the development of skills opens up opportunities and provides hope for people, especially those who may not have the financial means otherwise.
I think the summer career placements program had two flaws in the eyes of the government. First, it was a Liberal program and, second, it worked.
We have had no answer yet as to what the government will do with these cuts nor do we know what the program will look like. We do know the government cut $55 million out of the budget but there have been no details. Last June when I asked the question I heard that corporations were benefiting. In my own riding, and this is not dissimilar, I have the list of people who benefited from that program. There are no corporations on that list. It is all not for profits: boys and girls clubs, youth soccer programs, youth recreation, mental health groups and women's groups. Those are the groups that use the summer program for students and let students do work in the area of interest to them to benefit the community. In fact, in the last two years all the grants in my riding have been for not for profit organizations.
Is this a permanent cut of $55 million or is this a regifted Conservative hoax, another one like EnerGuide, that it will thrust on the Canadian people?