Mr. Speaker, before I came to Parliament, I was a school teacher. I believe in education. It is the best investment our country can make. Education is the starting point for sweeping change in every respect.
Education does figure into this budget, but what worries me is that it is always tied to jobs. Education begins at a very young age. Many of us here today have children. Our children sometimes have a hard time or have problems at school.
How does the budget help families with children who have difficulties at school? These learning difficulties could result in problems for young teenagers, and they may drop out of school. What is the government doing to prevent that? Nothing that I can see.
There is another thing that worries me about education. In the budget, it says, “provide $10 million over two years for...marketing activities [for international students].” Come on. Education is not marketing. It is an intrinsic and important value.
I would like to ask my colleague why the education of our children and help for families are being cast aside.