Mr. Speaker, I certainly share the concerns of my colleague from Cumberland--Colchester. The fact is that there is a movement of young people from rural Canada into the urban centres. In Bras d'Or--Cape Breton we have certainly lost our share of young people.
Where I differ with my hon. colleague is that I see merit in some of the initiatives in recent years. We have been successful in some initiatives. In the last two years we have shown great growth in the Cape Breton area. We have been able to develop 4,000 new jobs. We have leveraged $300 million in corporate private investment. The unemployment rate has dropped from around 20% to just below 15% in the industrial Cape Breton area. There have been some positive things happening.
I do not share his pessimistic view about call centres. We see young people staying in the communities now, securing employment at the call centres at around $10 an hour but with health and dental benefits. Therefore I would ask my hon. colleague, does he not think that the call centres are making a contribution to local economies?