Mr. Speaker, it is true that there is a serious problem, particularly with our age group in the twenties and thirties, who are leaving university after graduation to seek employment elsewhere, particularly in the United States. We see it.
I know the government has suggested that there is no brain drain, but just among my own colleagues, out of eight medical specialists I know seven have gone to the United States to seek employment, and because of taxation issues in particular. It is a major problem.
I think the other thing associated with this for us as we are looking down the line for future generations is debt repayment. We need to be looking at a serious attempt at paying down the debt in a way that is legislated. I think that is important for future generations. When we look at a province like Alberta, which has legislated debt repayment, we see that while there has been pain there has been a lot of gain. We can see that years later.
After years of legislated debt repayment, now we have the opportunity to look at improving the education system in Alberta. Alberta has probably the best health care system. We have an opportunity to look at lowering tuition costs in Alberta. All of these things came with some pain, yes, but with a lot of gain, and a lot of it was done under the eye of long term planning with the legislated debt repayment plan.