Mr. Speaker, that is a very serious question which has been raised by my colleague. It requires a proper response in light of the fact that he is correct.
When we talk about people putting money away, there are folks in this country who really do not have that extra capital to put away for educational funding. How do we deal with that?
We do have millennium funding that is being put in place to help those low income families pay for educational programs on the basis of need. I will have either the parliamentary secretary or someone from the department comment on that. That would be an important area for the member to raise.
When we look at student loans, there is no question that student loans are in place to help students. Some students are graduating with astronomical debts. I believe that we do have to look carefully at what we can do to help students in the best possible way to overcome the tremendous debt load they have.
One of the key issues is getting the fundamentals in place and keeping interest rates as low as we possibly can. Remember that interest on student loans does not start until a minimum of six months after the student graduates and if the student does not get a job, that time period can be extended. But with the large debt students have, it is important we make certain that we fundamentally handle this correctly. When people are young that is the time when they need a relatively good amount of income to purchase the basics they have not been able to have as students. In the workforce they have to see those benefits come about.
I agree that the issues the member has raised are important. They are ones this government is looking at.