Finance committee  The program was essentially cut in half, as you say, and although supposedly it's for all of greater Vancouver, it cut the seats in half. Young people from Vancouver, at-risk young people, disadvantaged young people, aren't going to travel out to Surrey. The program in Vancouver was housed in one of the integrated youth centres we have at Broadway and Fraser, and it worked very well because young people got to trust adults in that centre and were able to go into these kinds of programs and be successful, be placed, and have permanent jobs with Starbucks and/or go on to school.

Finance committee  No. To our knowledge, the money won't lapse in 2010, but it's been static for the last three years, so it hasn't really responded, especially for this program, the Skills Link program, which really works at employment for at-risk youth. Those are the kids who, if it's a positive economic climate, are the last hired at the best of times, and they're certainly the first fired.

Finance committee  Thanks for this opportunity. I'm speaking as executive director, but in fact I'm speaking on behalf of the 175 youth employment centres serving organizations in British Columbia, another 120 community social services in British Columbia, the Ontario Association of Youth Employment Centres, and an additional 35 youth-serving organizations across Canada.