Mr. Speaker, I would first like to congratulate you on your role. As everyone in this House knows, you are one of the brightest minds in parliamentary procedure this House has ever seen. You rightly deserve your position.
I would also like to thank the residents of Vaughan—King—Aurora for their vote of confidence in returning me to this House. It has been an honour and a privilege to have served them since 1988 and I look forward to serving them for many more years, working with them as their voice in Ottawa.
This is a unique Parliament standing on the threshold of a new era. In his remarks this week, His Excellency the Governor General drew attention to the fact that we are the last Parliament of the 20th century and the first of the 21st century. An arbitrary boundary? An important milestone? If nothing else, it is an opportunity to pause and assess the state of our society. From that perspective all of us in this House have been entrusted with an important duty.
We have been given the mandate by our electors to act as stewards of their interests as we cross the threshold into a new age. The decisions we make and the actions we take in the next four years will shape our society for decades to come. More importantly, they will decide what kind of nation Canada is as it begins a new century.
The throne speech demonstrated that the government has a clear vision of where it would like to take this country in the course of this current mandate. The speech provides a clear outline of where the government intends to dedicate its efforts and most importantly, it unveiled an agenda that responds well to the suggestions and aspirations voiced by the residents of Vaughan—King—Aurora. They have made themselves heard on issues like national unity, technology and the new economy. They have participated in town hall meetings on health care, on the environment and on social programs. The government knows where the people of Vaughan—King—Aurora stand on such issues.
It has been my pleasure to report to the House on 36 town hall meetings to date and a school speaking tour that included over 25,000 young people and literally thousands of meetings with groups and individuals.
The Speech from the Throne with its emphasis on fiscal responsibility, with a promise to balance the budget by 1998-99, on job creation with investments in key areas like technology, on quality health care with a plan to help Canadians who care for family members at home and on youth employment with a commitment to continue our successful internship and summer job programs to create real opportunities for our young people.
These are the kinds of initiatives that the people of Vaughan—King—Aurora are looking for from the government. I am confident that this Speech from the Throne will meet with their approval as we gather for our first town hall meeting on the 36th Parliament on October 1.
With that in mind, I want to take a minute to compare the throne speech that opened the 35th Parliament and the one delivered on Tuesday. In 1994 the words were cautious, the commitments solemn. But this one was different. It was full of hope, optimism and excitement about what the future holds. The Governor General spoke of a country in control of its finances, ready to reinvest in its society and optimistic about its future.
As someone who as worked on the issue of youth employment for a number of years, I am encouraged by the fact that for the third time in three months youth employment is up. This is the first period of sustained youth employment growth since May 1990.
The government's commitment to youth goes back to our days in opposition. In 1992 in the face of the indifference our predecessors showed toward youth issues, our party established a Senate-Commons committee on youth. Through national public hearings we met with young people, teachers, parents, social workers and members of the business community. The end result was a final report entitled “Agenda for Youth” which laid out a number of steps the government would take to assist young Canadians.
Many of the recommendations we made in that report were incorporated into our party's election platform in 1993. Following the election we formed the government and the youth proposals in our platform were acted on immediately through the unveiling of the youth employment and learning strategy.
The strategy has three components: the youth internship program, youth service Canada and an improved Canada student loans program. This three pronged approach has proven successful.
Since 1994 youth internship Canada has helped nearly 50,000 young people secure positions and gain professional experience. Our figures show that two-thirds of them will find a job within one year of leaving the program, usually with the employer they interned with. Sixty-eight percent of youth service Canada graduates either returned to school or found meaningful work within six months of completing their placement. Over 60,000 youths participated in the 1997 student summer job action. In all, youth internship Canada, youth service Canada and the student summer job program have helped over one million young people since 1994.
Our internship programs have a 78 percent success rate. Right now our total investment in federal youth programs is approximately $2 billion. We have introduced a number of measures designed to build on our commitment to helping Canada's youth. The youth employment strategy will give over 110,000 young Canadians work experience opportunities. The 1997 budget included measures designed to increase federal support for post-secondary education by approximately $137 million to make post-secondary education more accessible to young people.
These programs and measures are only part of the solution. As I said earlier I have spent a great deal of my political career listening to Canadians across the country. I have found that the most innovative solutions come from young people. For this reason I encourage members of Parliament on both sides of the House to seek input from Canada's youth as we try to address the various challenges they face.
I would like to remind the House of something the governor general said in the throne speech. He said “Our challenge is to ensure that no Canadian is left behind as the country moves forward”.
Our country is moving forward. The deficit is vanishing, interests rates are low, unemployment is decreasing, productivity is up and there is a new sense of optimism. We must all move forward together. When certain groups are shown to be more vulnerable than others, society has a responsibility to lend a helping hand.
In our first mandate we began the work of dealing with youth unemployment. By renewing our mandate I believe Canadians are saying in part let us get back in there and finish the job.
As a member of Parliament I have also seen success at the local level. Last term I was one of the founders of the Vaughan Technology Enterprise Centre, a project that identifies young entrepreneurs with a knack for high tech and teaches them the necessary skills to compete in the business world.
Team Canada, a youth service Canada project, placed young people in local businesses seeking to expand their export potential. The youths explored emerging markets and designed a database of identified opportunities.
I am confident that by working together and by pooling our resources and by committing to nothing less than success we will overcome this challenge. Our youth will look to the future with confidence and enthusiasm as they should.
As a postscript I note with interest that a number of young people were elected to this House in the last election. As someone who first entered this Chamber at the age of 28, I salute their courage and their determination. I encourage them and all members to join together to deal with the many challenges facing our youth.