Mr. Speaker, every year at this time, hundreds of thousands of young Canadians look forward to the summer work program where they can begin working for the summer. Small business operators, non-profit groups and so on, also look forward to it. Everyone benefits from the program.
The problem, at least in British Columbia and the Yukon region, is that the funds have not been allocated yet. They have not been announced. All sorts of programs which should be starting today are in fact not starting today nor tomorrow. They are going to start some time in the future.
All of the programming and planning that has gone into this is now being sort of tossed out the window. Students are frustrated. They are calling to ask us what is going on. They want to know if the programs are being approved.
On behalf of British Columbians and the people from the Yukon, I would urge the minister and the staff to make these allocation announcements as soon as possible.