Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to address youth issues. I welcome the comments of my colleague. I will disagree with a number of points that he has raised, naturally, but I do not discount his passion on these issues. I know he has been a member for a long time, and he has made it his focus in the past few months, as I understand it, to take up the issue of youth.
The member began with a point on the youth unemployment rate, which is unacceptably high. We did see a positive change in January. The youth unemployment rate now is at 12.8%. It was in excess of 14% in September. Still, it is unacceptably high. We must do better. However, he does not mention the context.
The reason the youth unemployment rate has been so high is the general uncertainty that Canadian businesses are facing with the dynamic that exists between Canada and the U.S. right now. That is a very troubling situation, to say the least. The U.S. and the imposition of tariffs that we have seen have created enormous questions about the future of Canada, specifically the economy and, I would say, youth as well. In fact, what the government is pursuing in terms of building this country up, looking at our natural resources, doing whatever we can to export those resources and building the infrastructure to make that possible is all part of an opportunities agenda that the government is putting forward.
Tomorrow, the Conservatives will have an opportunity to make clear where they stand on budget 2025, which is a clear articulation of where the country needs to go. I know my colleague has particular issues with the budget, but in the main, I wonder if he and his party will support it. There are so many good things there that I know Conservatives can get behind on behalf of our constituents and on behalf of our country.
The member raised a particular point on colleges, I believe. We are in what we call the late show here, in the parlance of the House of Commons. I would be very happy to engage with him afterwards to understand his specific concerns. He raised a number of other concerns in the potpourri of issues he brought forward tonight. It is not a criticism so much as an attempt on my end to understand what, exactly, he is pointing to. He has pointed to a number of issues. Can he centre on at least one so we can have an engaged discussion on that? I turn the floor back to him, so I can hear a rebuttal, which I look forward to.