Yes, part of the controversy is around the $43 million that would have gone directly to WE. We know that the public service has been underfunded. The Phoenix system, for example, is something that should have been fixed years ago and yet the resources have not been put into place to fix the Phoenix system for our hard-working, dedicated public servants.
What would $43 million mean in terms of actually providing supports to our existing public sector? Second, Canada Summer Jobs is cruelly underfunded. In my neck of the woods and right across the country, we have many positions that people have applied for that can't be met because there's not adequate Canada Summer Jobs funding for students. What should the government have done? Should they have made that decision to invest that money in Canada Summer Jobs, as so many people across the country are saying?