Madam Speaker, thank you for recognizing my riding. I want to thank the hon. member who seems to be very much aware of the problems of young people. I don't know whether he is as knowledgeable about rural ridings.
In my riding, I taught at a secondary school and occasionally at a CEGEP, where conditions are very bad. People talk about urban poverty, and I realize that poverty in urban areas may be worse than in rural areas. However, conditions in rural areas may be worse, to some extent, because our young people leave to go the city, and so we have fewer skills and resources.
I had students of 16 and 17 who were very disturbed and had a lot of problems. There were cases of runaways and drugs, and at one point we had to call in the police. I know the hon. member opposite is aware of the problems, but not all members of this House know the rural dimension.
That is why I would urge him and other members to think about what is happening in our schools in rural ridings. We have just one CEGEP. There is no university. This means students have to leave the area, for instance those from Mont-Joli. Amqui only has a secondary school which means that past the age of 16 or 17, after their Secondaire V, students have to leave town to go to the CEGEP. And of course the college is in Matane, so if they want to go to university, they have to leave town as well.
Is the hon. member prepared to look at conditions in rural areas, and does he have any suggestions on how he could help our students, our young people overcome these handicaps?