Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Madam Minister, I am going to concentrate on only one question. At the end of the day, the answer you are going to give me will also be for the students in my riding.
I hope that you are aware of the fact that you made cuts to the Summer Career Placements Program. In my riding, 344 young people found a job last summer because of this program. This represents a total of $533,000, which was spent to help organizations and companies in my riding. These young people did 113,000 hours of work in the Madawaska—Restigouche riding.
You mentioned that when all is said and done, some regions don't need student jobs, because they will be created in any event. But what are you going to say to the 170 to 200 young people who next summer will perhaps not have a student job because the program has been cut? What do you say to the non-profit organizations that need this funding? What do you say to the Edmundston Jazz & Blues Festival, which definitely needs funding to continue? And what do you say to the Jeux de l'Acadie, which were held this year in my riding in Campbellton? Is it because francophone organizations have been targeted by your cuts?
Rural regions genuinely need the Summer Career Placements Program. Do you understand concretely what you are in the process of doing? Are your comments about needing to cut the fat still accurate? Does cutting the fat mean cutting programs for students, who are those in society who need these programs the most in order to be able to continue with their post-secondary education?