Mr. Speaker, I am concerned about summer jobs for students. The first thing I did in my official capacity as an MP, practically the day after I was elected in 2011, was to sign the list of summer jobs. Looking at that list, I knew right away that there were not enough resources and that all of the decisions had been made in advance by government employees who had reviewed the applications. I could have made a few minor changes to the list, but all of the choices to be made were tough ones.
This program helps young people go back to their region and gain initial work experience in forestry, the environment and all sorts of specialties. It provides a great deal of assistance to community organizations and small municipalities. As I reviewed the list of organizations and municipalities that had real needs, I was disappointed to see that things looked the same year after year. The young people who did not make the cut could have met those needs and acquired essential work experience. A few times, I was able to achieve a remarkable feat and make tough choices to give jobs to groups that I felt were more essential than others.
Will there ever be an end to this? Will the government decide to invest the necessary resources? That is what I would like to ask my colleague.