Mr. Speaker, I heard the hon. member talk about a loss in jobs, particularly in the research area.
Everyone is concerned about losing jobs in research. We all know the importance of research. It is one of the top priorities Reform has targeted in our budget and in past documents dealing with the budget.
I agree with the Liberal philosophy with regard to research. I believe that at least what they say is the best approach to take regarding research. Research should be targeted better. There should be more partnerships developed with the private sector so taxpayers dollars are in with private business dollars to form partnerships to end some of the duplication in research and to spend the research dollars better. Private business needs to take a bigger role in targeting research so research is being done in the areas most likely to pay off well to business in terms of improvement. In this case we are talking about agriculture.
I agree with the Liberal philosophy presented with regard to research. I am concerned about the loss of jobs in research. We cannot afford to lose the research. There is room even in research to do a better job with the dollars we have.
While I agree with the member's concern about the loss of jobs, I ask the member for his comments on the loss of jobs that will result from the cuts the government has made not going far enough. In other words, there is no definite deficit target set in the budget. Because there is no definite target business will not have the atmosphere it needs to expand and or new businesses to be set up. As a result there will be fewer jobs in the future and certainly the jobs that could come-