Madam Speaker, I want to make a brief intervention on the bill before us.
As a member of the finance committee I had an opportunity to listen to the witnesses who came before us. It is clear that the millennium scholarship fund was one of the most talked about aspects of the budget implementation bill.
The member asked: Are we rewarding the best of the poorest or the poorest of the best? The member well knows that the issue of merit was well explained by the authors of the millennium scholarship fund and that acceptance at an institution would constitute merit. Clearly, for any program to be successful, obviously the candidates who are eligible should be those who demonstrate an aptitude to be able to complete a program because that is the most important part.
The issue of accessibility was more important for many members simply because we all know that there are many students out there who have demonstrated aptitude in secondary education but, given their circumstances, are unable or unwilling to take the economic plunges needed to pursue post-secondary education. All members know that is almost a prerequisite to having a good job.
The member's cynicism with regard to a political ploy is certainly a very weak argument against the federal government being involved in the education of Canadian youth. There is no question that there is an appetite to have more students attend post-secondary education in order to pursue the necessary skills and training they are going to need to participate fully in the economy of Canada.
With regard to the funding and the accounting, this issue has been dealt with very thoroughly. Indeed, the public accounts committee congratulated and supported the government in terms of its accounting for the millennium scholarship fund.
When the committee met and discussed briefly the mechanics of the accounting, it was pointed out that if the millennium scholarship fund had been designated to be operated through the foundation for innovation that would have eliminated the need for the auditor general to comment.
In fact, before the committee, the auditor general did admit that if the millennium scholarship fund, as proposed, were put under the umbrella of the foundation for innovation he would not have made comment with regard to the $2.5 billion.
I would like to table those remarks. It is clear that some members do not agree with the millennium scholarship fund, but it appears also that their reasons are more politically motivated than they are in terms of showing interest in the future of our young Canadians.