Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure again to speak to Bill C-36, the budget implementation bill, at report stage.
Today there was a report in the newspapers that Canadians are feeling poor. I can tell the House why Canadians are feeling poor. It is because their government has become richer at their expense. Why? It is because of high taxation, not because the government reduced expenditures. It has been on the backs of Canadians, raising taxes as well as cutting funding to the provinces. Funding to the provinces for education has been cut by $6 billion.
This has created a debtload on students. We all know that students' debtload has skyrocketed.
I have two daughters who are in university. One has just completed university and she has a debtload of $15,000. The other has a debtload of almost at $8,000 and she is midway through her university degree. They are both very worried about how they will pay this debt.
Let us talk about what the government is trying to do. It has come up with what it calls a millennium fund. The irony of this situation is that Brian Mulroney, a former prime minister, came up with the Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords so he could go into the history books as doing something. Now we have this Prime Minister who also wants to go into the history books by bringing in the millennium fund which is not well thought out.
Who will benefit from this millennium fund? We are told that the fund is targeted toward students. About 7% of students will receive about $3,000. It is based upon merit. Granted, there has been talk about need, but the majority of scholarships will be given on merit. We heard a member opposite talk about how the merit system will work.
I would like to bring in another point of view. My riding, like many ridings in Canada, is made up of hard working Canadians, Canadians who, due to the high taxation of this government, are struggling to put food on the table. They do not have the money to send their children to university. Most of their time is spent trying to put food on the table. Therefore, they have less time to spend looking after their families.
In my riding, particularly, there are hard working, working class people. When I visited a high school in my riding the principal told me that only 10% of the students will go on to higher education. What is the solution to that?
I talked to them and explained that they do not have to go to university for higher education. They do not have to go to college to get ahead in life. They should look at another option, trade schools. They can become electricians. They can become drywallers. They can become carpenters. These are the options the majority of the students in my riding face.
Where is the millennium fund going, their tax dollars? It is not going to address these concerns. That is why I call the millennium fund an elitist fund. Time after time after time many members have talked about how it will help students in university. That is fine, but what about the other students? What about thousands of Canadians who will try to choose a trade career and be denied access to the fund?
Therefore the amendments the Reform Party have put forward are worth looking at to address many of the issues I have raised. First and foremost, Motion No. 3 asks that we take a look at public and private post-secondary education institutions in Canada that are designated for Canada student loan purposes. This will open it up to many students in high school who are unable to go university but choose a trade as their career.
I emphasize that we must look at the students who choose careers that are different. We must also help them. We do not want a shortage of skilled workers in the trades area.
Motion No. 42 is extremely important. Whenever taxpayers' money is put into something, be it a private foundation or a government institution, there has to be a mechanism where people can appeal a decision that at times may not be favourable.
We know that the bureaucracy in these foundations has a tendency to follow strict rules. There has to be a place where people can go to someone and say that a wrong decision was made. They have that right because they are taxpayers. Their parents have paid money into the fund. That money has not been raised by private sources. It is public money so the right to appeal should be there.
I will talk about the provinces. Education is a provincial jurisdiction. Provinces are the ones most closely associated with the economy of their regions. They know what is required in the regions. It is not the federal government sitting 2,000 miles away. Therefore it is important that we look at the motion which allows the provinces to opt out and use the money in the way that will address their own needs. It is very important that they be given flexibility. It is public money. There is no need for the federal government to have tight control over it although it talks about the private foundation.
I ask my colleagues across the floor to look at the motions that are trying to create a better disbursement of the fund and make it accessible to all Canadians.