Thank you very much for taking the time to come today.
For many of us sitting around here, we've been raising this issue for a number of months now. I'm going back to some of the press releases issued by my colleague, I know, on behalf of the Liberal caucus.
One press release, dated March 5, states: “Conservatives' Student Employment Con Job”. Another one, dated May 16, states: “Conservative Cuts to Summer Grants Kill Community Programs”. And another one, on May 23, states: “Solberg Must Immediately End Confusion Surrounding Student Summer Grants”.
So I know there has been a lot of work done by opposition parties to ensure that the students and the non-profit organizations that deserve funding actually receive appropriate funds to ensure that students can get hired for the summer. I can tell you, from talking to many of these organizations and these non-profit groups that traditionally have relied on the summer career placement program in the past, that they were actually counting on the Canada summer jobs program this time around to ensure that they would have access to the appropriate funding, and students would have access to ensure that they would actually obtain jobs.
So I was quite surprised, when we had submitted a motion, which I think was approved by the majority of members on this particular committee, to request a complete list of criteria....
How is it that in the past, MPs were provided with a list of individuals and organizations that had applied; the information came back from HRSDC itself on whether or not those organizations, non-profit or private, had been approved or denied; and we as parliamentarians had an opportunity to look at that list? I know, from talking to many MPs, that there was no involvement from the local MP. They took the advice of HRSDC.
Why is that when that same list is being asked for this particular year, it's been deemed a privacy concern, when in previous years it never was?