Mr. Speaker, on Friday I questioned the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of HRDC about the deadline for applications for the student summer job action program. She said the deadline was March 31.
The federal government changed the deadline to March 10, causing a lot of misunderstanding and missed opportunities for students and employers.
Now the government is saying that the deadline is being extended to March 31, but for some reason this information was only released on Friday, March 24. That means that from March 10 until March 24 the program was effectively closed. Now all of a sudden applications are being accepted for another week.
I am sure that this information will be of interest to people who missed the unusual March 10 deadline. However, it makes me wonder how and to whom the government expects to disseminate this information about the extension. All students and employers deserve an equal opportunity to access federal programs like this one. This is another example of the HRDC minister's incompetence.