Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House to address the prime minister's recent remarks in Moncton about tough love. The prime minister was quoted as being unrepentant about the severe effects of his government's deep cuts and boasted that the Atlantic region was better off as a result of these cuts. It looks like the tough love has resulted in the children leaving home.
The east coast population is shrinking. In recent census data, 2,700 people between the ages of 18 and 24 left Cape Breton over a five year period and have not returned.
The number of young families leaving Cape Breton and Atlantic Canada echoes Steinbeck's depression era novel The Grapes of Wrath . I would submit that if unemployment is down then it is due to the fact that the population is leaving the region.
Liberal policies have created a nation of migrant workers. I call on the government to wake up and take immediate action to implement a real economic strategy for Atlantic Canada—