Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleague opposite to speak to the young people who benefited from the Katimavik program. He is saying that it is not effective and that, basically, the kids were not able to experience it the way they should, but I invite him to go and speak to those kids. I did, and I can see the difference it made and the impact it had on their lives.
A former member of my riding had become addicted to drugs and was an alcoholic. He benefited from the Katimavik program and was able to straighten out because he had a choice. What we should be doing is giving kids choices. Countries around the world are doing just that. There are programs like Katimavik in Australia and the European Union. There are programs in the United States like Youth Volunteer Corps, Volunteers of America and Youth Service America.
If we are going to talk about the money spent on Katimavik, let us also talk about the money that has been reinvested in the communities. Let us talk about that. According to Statistics Canada, an average of $20 million and over one million volunteer hours a year have been invested. We need to take that into account when we talk about a program. Seventeen million dollars is not a huge amount, but the benefits for the communities and the people who went through this program are enormous.