Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister for taking part in the debate today and appreciate her kind comments about the motion and her support, at least in principle, for the ideas contained therein.
I wonder though, when she talks about support for students, because the government in its budget simply had an $80 tax credit for textbooks and an exemption for scholarships. Most students do not have scholarships, unfortunately; I wish they all did. What about the real issue of access for low income and middle income people who cannot afford the high tuition costs these days? What about Kelowna? There was $5 billion for Kelowna for things like skills and job readiness for aboriginal people and now it is gone. There is no support for that in this budget. Where is that?
This morning in the human resources and social development committee, a Conservative member of Parliament suggested to an official from the minister's department that the answer to unemployment in Atlantic Canada was to move the unemployed workers to Alberta. I want to ask her if that is government policy.