Madam Speaker, as a member of Parliament I have travelled extensively throughout the country, not only as a member of the finance committee but also during the years when we were dealing with social security review. Many of the measures that have been announced in this budget actually address the concern cited by Canadians may I say from coast to coast to coast in relationship to key areas.
I do want to go back to the issue raised in reference to the Canadian opportunities strategy. There is no question that it does include measures that will benefit those who are currently students, graduates who are coping with student loans and workers who are trying to upgrade their skills.
Also there is the registered education savings plan and the greater flexibility therein and the government's contribution to postgraduate students who are working in scientific and medical research. The hon. member ought to say that we are investing precisely in the areas she has stated.
I can say with a great deal of certainty that in many quarters this budget is being dubbed at times as the education budget, as a budget that speaks to the development of human resources in our country. When we look at the amount of funding that has been directed toward those areas, the member must admit that students are much better off today than they were prior to the budget. We have to have a sense of fairness in addressing this particular budget as it relates to the quality of life that students will have as a result of the measures.
I can honestly say it addresses some of the concerns I had many years ago when I was sitting in the opposition benches about the various cuts the then Conservative government was imposing on youth programs. I am really glad to see that the government has highlighted youth as a major issue that we need to make great investments in.
On the question of transfers to the provinces, the hon. member knows that we raised the floor to $12.5 billion, as much as the national forum on health said that we should. We followed up on that.