Mr. Speaker, I am certainly conscious of the very severe unemployment situation in the hon. member's riding. It is probably the most serious in the country.
I can assure the hon. member that the Pathways budget, which provides services to aboriginal and First Nations peoples, has been maintained at the same level this year. At the same time we are endeavouring to retain the outreach services so that those services can be maintained in the remote communities.
Let me say something that applies not just to the hon. member but to all members. We are reorganizing the department, but I made it very clear that the guidelines must be that any reduction come from the overhead of the department, not from direct services to clients, so that we have much better control and discretion of decision at the local level. Decisions will be made to tailor programs at the local level and maintain clear accessibility for all citizens of Canada so they can get proper services to get back to work.