Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to add my voice to those of my hon. colleagues to strongly endorse the budget implementation bill before us today.
In the next few minutes I will focus on one key theme of the budget. The focus will be on youth, on what government is doing to invest in Canada's future through education and youth employment programs. Everyone knows the government is committed to deficit reduction and the positive spinoffs of lower interest rates and economic growth. At the same time, we must have the vision to sustain our social programs and build a future for our youth.
There are some areas in which additional funds must be invested while we cut back in others. One such area concerns the youth of Canada. Young people are Canada's most important resource but sadly youth unemployment is about 50 per cent higher than the national average. Young Canadians are not looking for handouts, but for a chance to lend a hand. They need enhanced educational opportunities and an extra hand up to attain their very crucial first jobs.
There is no question about the importance of education. It is the underpinning of this country's progress and accomplishments. Everything we have as a country and as individuals rests on the skills, abilities and talents that have been developed and polished through education.
In today's changing world, education is a lifelong endeavour. During our time in this House we continue to learn more about the
Canadians we serve, about their needs, their expectations and their hopes for this country's future.
It is for Canada's young people that education holds a very special place. The greatest asset a person has is his or her own self-resourcefulness. No one can take your education from you. What they learn now they will use for the rest of their lives. During their lives they will see that the Canada of the future, how it lives, how it works and how it interacts with the broader world outside its borders, will change and grow beyond anything we see today. It is education that will take our young people there.
All of this is well recognized by the government and with this budget we are taking durable, meaningful steps forward. One significant step is the new learning package. It delivers real help to Canadian students. The education tax credit is being raised from $80 to $100. The limit on the transfer of tuition fees and education amounts to those who support students is being raised from $4,000 to $5,000. The annual limit on contributions to the registered education savings plan is being increased from $1,500 to $2,000, while the lifetime limit is being increased from $31,500 to $42,000.
We are also helping parents who are full time students. Single parents and family parents who both attend school will be allowed to deduct child care expenses against all types of income. Parents who attend high school full time will also be allowed to claim this deduction. These new measures will deliver an extra $165 million in tax assistance over the next three years to students and their families.
The new money in the learning package tells only part of the story. It supplements the considerable sums we already target to students. I am sure hon. members are familiar with the Canada student loans program. Currently we budget some $556 million to this program, money that will allow some 360,000 students to negotiate over $1 billion in loans this year. To help students, this year's budget announced the removal of the 10-year ceiling that was imposed on the repayment schedules of students who borrowed money under the Canada Student Loans Act.
Under the new rules lenders will have more flexibility to match the repayment period to the financial reality of borrowers. Not only will this measure help the students who borrow the money, but it will also benefit the government as we will not have such a high default rate on loans.
These changes follow on major reforms of the Canada student loans program made last August. At that time the government announced that it would provide special grants for disabled and high needs students and expand interest relief for borrowers who encounter difficulty in repaying their loans. Loan ceilings were increased and the efficiency of the program was improved through new arrangements with the financial institutions. Under this arrangement it is the lenders who take on the risk and the costs of loan defaults.
Formal education is a necessary foundation that all students seek, but there is something equally important that complements it and that is work experience. I am sure hon. members understand fully the challenge involved in making the transition from schools, colleges and universities to the workplace. Given the difficulty that this transition represents in today's fiercely competitive job market, which is evidenced by the youth unemployment numbers that I mentioned earlier, the government had to take action.
Before the 1996 budget the government had already earmarked some $705 million over the next three years for programs to promote youth employment. These include Youth Service Canada, Youth Internship Canada and the Student Summer Job Action program. Now we are doing more. Funding will be increased with $315 million of new money reallocated from other areas of the budget. Some of this reallocated funding will be used to facilitate summer employment. Government support will double to $120 million for this fiscal year. This action recognizes the value of on the job experience to students, not to mention the money it provides to help them with their education.
Most of the remaining money will be used to assist young people who have left school to find jobs. Individuals with lower levels of education will be a special target group, and to fully fund and to fully understand the particular needs and difficulties they face.
When the new funding for the learning package in youth employment is added to the existing employment programs, the total support for the next three years will be more than $1.2 billion.
When I was a young girl growing up in rural New Brunswick in the 1950s, few young women went to university. Most were encouraged to get married. It was almost like a career. I was always an eager learner and I can remember my mother saying to me: "Diane, do not get too smart or no one will want to marry you". That was a particular and prevailing attitude of the times.
I went to university and I am still enrolled today in the masters program at St. Mary's University at Halifax. I encourage young women and young men to look at education as the greatest asset they will ever attain. You can never have too much of it, it will be the greatest gift that you ever give yourself and it will last a lifetime.
I recognize this and as a working person all my life I am still being educated through a lifelong process. The government recognizes this. Education is a foundation for all successful employment and for successful citizens.
I have a young man in my constituency who encountered drug and alcohol abuse throughout his education at university. He was a failure and dropout. He came to see me in great disgrace in his community. Having been considered a complete failure by family
and friends he asked for my help to get back to school. My message to him was: "I will help you when you are prepared to help yourself".
Over the past two years he has called on me every few months. I am so pleased to say that these last few months he has taken control of his life, he is back on track and he is now enrolled in an education program in the Halifax area.
If I do nothing else through this next period as a member of Parliament, I will feel very satisfied that I have been able to encourage and help one young person take control of his life and get back on track to get his education. It is education that opens the doors to successful young people who become successful adults not only in the workplace but as mothers in our society, as providers, as givers in the community and as very successful Canadians that will take this country into the 21st century.