House of Commons photoWon her last election, in 2019, with 47% of the vote.
Business of Supply November 1st, 2006
Mr. Chair, in fact one of the areas that we are going to be focusing on is helping youth at risk and students in communities with high crime. Those are barriers to the workforce and we want to help them overcome those barriers.
As we are currently in the process of reviewing this program, I would certainly invite the member to share her ideas for a new program so that as we go through with this and make changes to it, we can look at including some of her ideas. That would be just great.
Business of Supply November 1st, 2006
Mr. Chair, we took a look at where the demand was, where we saw people getting jobs that would have existed anyway. We do not need to spend Canadian taxpayers' money to create jobs for students in Calgary. I am sorry, but we do not need to do that. We need to do it elsewhere. We need to get the focus of this program back on students and on creating meaningful jobs that will help them gain valuable experience and money to help them continue with their education.
Business of Supply November 1st, 2006
What we want to do, Mr. Chair, is make sure that we are providing opportunities for students wherever those opportunities exist.
I should point out that the subsidy to private business for these jobs is only 50%, not 100% as for the not for profit sector. I would caution the hon. member that it will be the small businesses that take advantage of this program in many communities where students have a tough time finding a job. That is where the jobs will be created, the very ones the member is so eager to create, as am I.
Business of Supply November 1st, 2006
Mr. Chair, when we looked at the summer career placement program, which has a very noble purpose to help students earn money to go back to school and also to increase their work experience, we quickly realized that it was oversubscribed. In other words when we checked, fully a third of employers actually admitted that they would have provided these jobs even if they had not received the funding provided through this program. Now if only a third admitted it, imagine how many actually believed it.
When Tim Hortons cannot hire people to work in Calgary, we do not believe that we should be subsidizing $20 an hour summer jobs there. We will be focusing on where students need help, whether it is rural communities, whether it is new Canadians, wherever the barriers are to employment. We will help students where they actually need it.
Business of Supply November 1st, 2006
Mr. Chair, I think we need to place it in context. This is probably the largest department. I am not exactly sure whether financially it is. I know it is almost $80 billion. The savings that we are realizing for Canadians, including CMHC, amount to $152 million. That is a very, very, very small percentage.
The key here is that we are saving on programs that just have not been delivering results for Canadians. The opportunity is there to realize savings while improving quality by just letting us do it better. There is tremendous opportunity there. I would not be able to comment on savings realized in other departments.
Business of Supply November 1st, 2006
Mr. Chair, the rules of the government dictate that the money go directly into consolidated revenue.
Business of Supply November 1st, 2006
Mr. Chair, I would be happy to pursue that with the member.
Business of Supply November 1st, 2006
I do apologize, Mr. Chair, but at the moment based on the information the member has provided, I cannot identify that particular program. I would be happy, however, to meet individually with the member to discuss it further and to answer her questions.
Business of Supply November 1st, 2006
Mr. Chair, I would ask the hon. member if she could provide a little more detail. We do have a number of programs and I am not quite sure to which one she is referring.
Business of Supply November 1st, 2006
Yes.