Madam Speaker, I am really pleased that my hon. colleague has risen on this issue. It shows his commitment and concern and I would like to just let him know that we have had great opportunities in the last little while. His representatives at the provincial level as well as federal partners in terms of our minister and the Minister of Health are working on a national children's agenda.
It is unfortunate that we do have a child poverty issue but let me tell the member what is the basis of this. We have to empower and engage parents in order to deal with part of the problem. If the hon. colleague cared to be so informed we could provide him with an overview of some of the most successful programs we have that have made a difference in the lives of children. Those are the programs I saw this week when I travelled in my riding and they are prevalent, hundreds of them across the country. He should take the opportunity.
There are community action plans for children's programs and prenatal nutrition programs. There are headstart programs, there are First Nation Inuit child care programs. There are many other initiatives. The community action plan for children's programs, the centre of excellence for children and the $850 million that we talked about that kicks in in July will give more money to low income families.
We have also done a bit of debt relief for those low income families as well and we were not going to book until the next budget week but we have booked the additional, doubled that $850 million. This will accrue in savings on social assistance which should be able to be reinvested back to children. This is the agreement we have with our provinces.
Regarding the auditor general's report, I cannot speak for Indian affairs but I can speak for what human resources development does.
The agreements that we have struck are based on client to service. We will not prop up the industry of poverty. We will not prop up the industry of employment. What we are doing is giving the money directly to the people who are affected. The $200 million I spoke about earlier, that is the way we administer it. There is an element of risk. We know that but we have a strong accountability framework. We give them money directly so they can serve the clients. It does not go to a middle person or an middle organization. It goes directly into servicing the clients we have.
Our youth programs are like that. We put a very small percentage of our money into youth programs which results in complaints. We do not provide core funding. We believe the organizations wanting to engage have the ability to do so and have the infrastructure for that. We give them money that goes directly to the young people who are affected.
With Youth Service Canada many of our youth who participate end up with a completion bonus fee. If they finish the program, they get some money at the end to take a supportable wage subsidy, tuition paydown or another form of credit note for starting a small business.