I think the motion obviously misses the major thing that the government did here in terms of the $10 million increase. At that time, we had some pretty positive comments from the NDP, Tony Martin in fact himself at that time. He said “This extra money is welcome”, meaning more jobs that may help keep our students in the north to help them make some money and support career opportunities.
It was welcomed by Charlie Angus, NDP MP for Timmins—James Bay. He said:
Ottawa is providing more money to help offset some of the labour market disruptions for youth trying to find summer employment. This program is perfect.
From the Canadian Federation of Students, Dave Molenhuis said:
Student summer jobs will employ more students in the short term. It will also provide skills development in the long term. It's welcome news for students. The CSJ program is important in that it has created employment opportunities for students.
CBC said:
It's helped a lot of students get their foot in the door in a field they're interested in studying.
So it's a very significant increase. That $10 million means some 3,500 additional jobs across the country, a total of 40,000 jobs for students each summer. And in the province of Quebec alone, the member's own province, there will be some 10,000 as a result of that. So that's pretty huge. I think as a result it obviates the need for this kind of a motion here, which is guised in a whole bunch of factors, when we've just gone ahead and done it already by way of a significant increase. I think it's unnecessary in view of the significant funding increase that's already been done by the Conservative government.