Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Human Resources Development, and he surely does not have a prepared response because I did not give him the question in advance.
The industrial base of the Sorel-Tracy region has been collapsing for the past ten years, and dramatic plant closures have become everyday occurrences. After MIL Tracy, Tioxide and Beloit came the news recently that Soreltex was closing. The pressing needs resulting from these many shutdowns drove the Sorel Employment Centre in April to ask the department for an additional $2.2 million to offset the demand generated by these mass layoffs.
Given the urgency of this situation, can the minister pledge to allocate these funds immediately from the $400 million which he has earmarked for launching new programs?