Thank you. I think there are some important points to make.
As I mentioned last time, I think there was a discussion at this committee about reviewing some of the criteria. It seems to me that some good changes have been made within the criteria, such as the allocation of funds to the non-profit sector and encouraging employment in smaller communities to encourage young people to go back there. I think those are good changes.
However, as in many things, I think the government did some selective listening. For example, there are no criteria that reflect the level of poverty in areas. It seems to me that we instead have a new flawed program, although we should recognize as a committee that it's too late to make any significant changes to this program.
If you look at criterion three of the Canada summer jobs guide, for example, project activities are directed towards members of and support the vitality of an official language minority community, that being defined as official languages. I'm having trouble understanding this criterion. There might be an explanation from the government side that would help me better understand it, because I can't see how any purpose would be served by that criterion in northern Alberta, or northern B.C., or my own community. In fact, it represents a significant number of points on the application. For example, in my community there is a high level of employment but a very high level of poverty. There don't seem to be any criteria to account for that.
I'm concerned about the new sets of criteria, although I agree with my colleague that there needed to be a review of the criteria as they were under the old program. I guess I'm unhappy with either one.
But I think there needs to be a review of the new criteria, to perhaps start from scratch, if this committee is to serve any purpose in having the government listen to the kind of advice that was being given about the need for review and the need to have a more comprehensive assessment in terms of this program.