Mr. Speaker, I wish to thank the hon. member for Fredericton-York-Sunbury and say that I also observe the rules that members must speak in turn.
I heard the comments made by the Reform member. I share many of her views, especially about the broken promise concerning provincial repatriation of manpower training. But I am more critical of the hon. member for Malpeque who, once again, decided to correct the facts given by the hon. member for Mercier. I think he got his figures all wrong when he said that the government announced a $315 million allocation for young people.
As the critic for youth and training up to last month, I can say that, according to the press release issued by the Minister of Human Resources Development, the amount was rather $160 million. I will not make an issue of it, but it is very important.
I do commend the hon. member for one thing: his amendment should limit the power of the Minister of Human Resources Development by forcing him to report to the House. I recognize that as a good point. At the same time, this suggests a certain degree of mistrust in the overly centralized power of ministers of Human Resources Development, present and future.
The hon. member referred once again to the red book, when he talked about transferring powers from bureaucrats to committees and to the House. He should not have mentioned that, since we were gagged in committee. For only the second time in this Parliament and the first time since Confederation, a committee got gagged by the House.