Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague mentioned that job creation is a priority for this government. I think that this government has failed miserably as far as job creation is concerned.
These last few weeks, I have worked on the issue of the closing, in Sainte-Thérèse, Quebec, of the plant operated by Kenworth, an American firm. More than 800 workers stand to lose their jobs and more than 800 Sainte-Thérèse families will be affected. This is utterly tragic for these families which are faced with a very limited future.
I say to my hon. colleague that, true, jobs have been created, but tens and hundreds of thousands of others have been lost. The jobs that are created are precarious, temporary and poorly paid. These days, business executives specialize in laying off their employees. The more they lay off, the more efficient they are.
In the federal Department of Citizenship and Immigration, immigrants complain that they can no longer meet a public servant or talk with one on the telelphone, that their calls are always answered by machines. They do not get answers to their problems.
I would like to ask my colleague what concrete job creation initiatives are found in this budget, apart from the creation of a few summer jobs for students?