Mr. Speaker, this is the fundamental difference that separates us from the Reform Party and the member laid it out very clearly.
There was an election in October, as I remember, and our party ran on a platform that said certain budgets were going to be transferred to key job creation programs. One of the key job creation programs which was much more than a job creation program, it was also a social program of great importance, was to say that if we look at the situation of our youth today the great majority of whom are leaving school do not know where to go for work. There is a shortage of hope. There is complete despair.
I do not know if the member feels the same as I do. When in my riding I meet all kinds of young people. I could send him a a pile of CVs from young people, highly qualified, with masters and doctorates who cannot find work today.
The government has started to say: "We have to transfer money, especially from the defence fund at a time when the cold war is over, into a youth services corps for young Canadians". The great majority of Canadians obviously back this theory because they elected us in large numbers as a majority party. They did not elect the Reform Party with their view that the marketplace, the economy, dollars and cents will cure every problem. If it had been so in the past we would not have had trade unions. We would not have had reforms of the social safety net. We would not have medicare. We would have left it to the marketplace to sort it out.
In all places where the marketplace is paramount and exclusive the social fabric of the country is in disarray. We do not say that government intervention is the only way to move, but surely there is a mix there in establishing constructive, social policies that can have government take a sense of direction, and give leadership. It seems to us that if we want to give leadership the first place to put the accent is on our youth. I am very proud that we have this program in place.