Mr. Speaker, at the request of the people of Quebec and of Abitibi, the Government of Canada transferred several of its Canadian job creation, training and internship programs to the Government of Quebec in 1998.
Since that transfer, the staff of the Emploi-Québec centre at Val d'Or have been doing an excellent job of finding solutions for users of these employment programs.
At this point in time, the Val d'Or Emploi-Québec office is already short of money to meet the needs of the people of the Val D'Or region. It is already $2 million short.
Why such a lack of budget planning by the government of Lucien Bouchard, at the very beginning of the 1999 budget year? Program recipients in Abitibi are waiting for an answer from you today, Mr. Bouchard.