I want to deal with a few of the issues that have come up in the discussion. I want to speak first to Ms. Savoie's comments.
She talked about no criteria dealing with poverty, but with all due respect, your party talks consistently about poverty's correlation to high crime, high unemployment, and aboriginal communities. This program is designed to get funding to students with disabilities, in aboriginal communities, and in areas with high unemployment and crime rates. It does deal with areas where poverty might be a concern.
In dealing with your question about northern Alberta and northern B.C. not getting help or not needing help, if you were to talk to colleagues of mine and yours--the member from Skeena—Bulkley Valley--you'd hear that in the rural areas there is a need for a program like this to bring students back to the communities to help out with the non-profit organizations in some of those rural areas. So those areas are targeted for this.
As for so much of the conversation from everywhere, I want to remind you that 100% of the funding for the not-for-profit sector has been preserved. Anything else that any of you are fighting for right now is money for big business, because we're preserving the funding for the not-for-profit sector.
My colleague Mr. Savage talked about students and defending students, and we're on the same page there. The program is designed for students to get jobs. The argument we're making is that the big businesses will hire those students anywhere.
I'll reiterate that right now under this government, with the things we've done in our last two budgets, youth unemployment is lower than ever. Students are getting the jobs and have a better shot at getting jobs now than they've had in years in Canada. I think that students are definitely well served.
I was puzzled by the Bloc comment on nepotism, because I think that's one of the things we're trying to correct here. Again, what the previous committee wanted is what we have with this new program. The goals the committee was asking for have been accomplished.
Let's review the program next year and come back with suggestions if something else needs to be corrected. At the end of the day, youth unemployment is lower than ever, and students are going to get those jobs anyway from the big businesses you're trying to protect.