Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her fine work and her question.
It is absolutely correct that our deficit and debt situation is not as bad as it is in other countries. In fact, it is much better than it is in other countries in the G8. Therefore, why is the Minister of Finance focused on deficit reduction as though that were our main problem? That is exactly the point.
The issue for us, the major challenge, is not the debt in this country; it is job creation. I am sure she knows that in her community, youth unemployment is double the unemployment of others in this country, and I am sure she knows the problems that leads to. We do not want to be locking up young people, putting them in jail, having to build more prisons, which, sadly, the government is heading toward. We want to create good quality jobs for our youth so that they can have a hopeful future. That is what we in the NDP are standing up for: Canadian youth and families.