Madam Speaker, I am a bit surprised by the motion today. The Reform Party is attempting to suggest that a balanced approach would be fiscally irresponsible.
When the member for Medicine Hat spoke earlier he talked about it being irresponsible spending and that things did not seem to improve.
I thought I would start by getting it on the record, in case the member for Medicine Hat was not aware, that we will be the first government in almost three decades to balance the budget.
Part of the balance means that the government will not bend from its pledge to Canadians to invest in the future of our young people. The future of our country calls on us to make responsible ongoing investments aimed at improving the educational and job prospects of young Canadians.
Our young people are well prepared and well placed to take advantage of the many opportunities arising from our increasingly high tech and knowledge based economy, for they are the best educated and most adept ever in the use of technology.
Nevertheless, Canadians are worried about the prospects for youth. A recent poll showed that 91 percent of Canadians were concerned about the difficulties facing youth today and 74 percent of young Canadians said that they expected to have a lower standard of living than that of their parents.
Such worries are reinforced by frequent media stories suggesting that many young Canadians will face bleak job prospects and will be forced to take work that does not enable them to contribute to their full potential.
Sadly these stories have helped to perpetuate myths like the one that having a good education does not matter. That is not true. Education matters more than ever today.
It is also believed that the job situation and salaries of youth have deteriorated considerably compared to those of previous generations. This is also not true.
Many young Canadians today face very good job prospects, but far too many youth face serious challenges which must be addressed. That is why one of the first mandates of the government is making youth a priority.
As members know, the government made youth a priority as soon as it took office in 1993. We have already helped by introducing a number of initiatives aimed at helping youth. For instance, the youth employment strategy launched in February 1997 will provide more than 110,000 young Canadians with the work experience opportunities they need to help them get that critical first job.
This strategy builds on an investment of approximately $2 billion in Government of Canada programs for young people. It comes out of the commitment of the Government of Canada to address youth employment issues by working in partnership with all sectors of the economy.
As my colleague from Guelph just mentioned, we talk about internships and mentor programs. We know those are what the youth of the country need and want. We are just starting. We are at the tip of that program. There are places to go and room to move within it.
We have also moved to improve accessibility to post-secondary education by building on initiatives announced in the February 1997 budget which included improved registered education saving plans, increased and expanded education tax measures, extending the period of interest relief for graduates having trouble repaying their loans, and gearing loan repayment to income.
Our colleague from Medicine Hat was actually on the finance committee with me as we travelled from the west coast to Toronto. He heard what the youth who came before us had to say. They talked about having the opportunity for a first job, about having the ability to get an education and about having the ability to afford an education. We took action in the 1997 budget and addressed it again in the throne speech. We will continue to address the needs of youth as money becomes more available. That is why the 50:50 approach worked, because 50 percent will go into social programs including youth where we need it.
We know what also works. We know that higher education is the key to getting a good job. We know that the Canada student loans program has helped young Canadians to get an education. We know that getting relevant work experience is increasingly important to help make the transition from school to work. We know that a variety of services are needed to address the challenges facing low skilled and low educated youth to give them a better chance.
Finally, we know that lifelong learning and access to labour market information contribute to the long term success of all young people. Knowing what works is just the first step. What really matters is translating this into practical initiatives that can make a real difference in the lives of our youth. The Speech from the Throne has done just that.
In our second mandate we will continue to build on what works. The Speech from the Throne has renewed the government's commitment to youth as a main priority for the second mandate. We will continue our efforts to support access to post-secondary education and to ease the transition from school to the first job.
We will also address the special needs of disadvantaged youth, especially those who face barriers to becoming self-reliant due to lower education, low skills or other social and economic factors. These youth often find it difficult getting started in the workforce and deserve a better chance.
All Canadians have a stake in meeting these challenges. No single sector could have all the answers. In the area of new partnerships with the provinces, with the private and voluntary sectors, and with Canadians the government has made a commitment to our young people.
Partnerships work. We have seen the success firsthand of the internship programs undertaken by the private sector. One good example is the career edge initiative which demonstrates the private sector's commitment to helping youth.
The federal, provincial and territorial governments will also continue to address the problem. First ministers and territorial leaders will be working on the issue when they meet this fall.
We must all contribute to helping young people take their rightful place in society. We must also ensure that they have access to education.
Governments have a responsibility to ensure the widest possible access to learning at all levels. Working with its partners, the Government of Canada will continue to reduce barriers to post-secondary education by reforming the Canada student loans program, by making it easier for students to repay their student loans, by introducing new grants for post-secondary students with dependants and by introducing scholarships to promote academic excellence for low to moderate incomes.
In addition, just last week the prime minister announced a one time investment in learning and knowledge that will form the foundation of the most significant millennium projects for young Canadians. Beginning in the year 2000, the Canada millennium scholarship endowment fund will reward academic excellence and will provide thousands of scholarships for low and moderate income Canadians to help them to attend college or university.
We will also expand information awareness and guidance related to career and job options and the skills required for them. That means ensuring that young Canadians know what education they need to get a job in high growth sectors of the economy. There are thousands of unfilled jobs out their because we did not help our young people prepare for the demand. This can, will and must end. We will work to better equip ourselves, our partners, our government and Canadians to forecast the needs of our economy.
When I look at my own riding of Essex I know that each day in the paper there is a high demand for mould makers and skilled trade. We are still not meeting that growth and demand.
In other parts of Canada the same thing is happening in the high tech industry. We have to funnel our interests and efforts together at all levels of government. We have to work to ensure that all youth in Canada have equal opportunity. We must also ensure that they can make the transition to the workplace.
We will continue our strong support for youth seeking to make the transition from school to work by extending existing international science and technology and first nations internships, by extending student summer job programs, by sharpening their focus on relevant experience, by building on existing exchange programs and by creating a new national career mentorship program in partnership with provinces and the private sector. This will give them a better chance.
As announced in the Speech from the Throne, we will also focus on helping youth facing barriers to becoming self-reliant due to low education, low skills or other social or economic factors. To this end we will bring partners together to create a new community based program to assist higher risk youth, including aboriginal youth, upgrade literacy and basic work skills, create work opportunities and get the help they need from community resources. We will do this in partnership with provinces, communities and employers.
We will also seek to address the special needs of aboriginal youth through the creation of urban multipurpose aboriginal youth centres which will provide a relevant cultural and supportive environment capable of encouraging first nations youth to stay in school and complete their education and which will offer career planning and employment opportunities.
Investing in young Canadians makes good economic and social sense. The government has from the very beginning made preparing young Canadians for the 21st century one of its main priorities. As I mentioned, investing in young Canadians makes good economic sense. It helps ensure they will become highly skilled and productive workers who can compete and thrive in a demanding global economy of the future. It is good social policy too.
A young Canadian with a job has a foothold in the labour market and is better able to contribute to the economic and social fabric of his or her community. Our youth programs are aimed at ensuring that the youth of today can make the transition to tomorrow, can get access to education, can get experience in the workplace and can get a job in the future.
I am also pleased that the throne speech mentioned that the needs of rural Canada would be addressed. I am looking forward to the youth programs being adapted to meet the needs of rural Canada to ensure that youth return and work in the communities in which they were born and raised and bring the educational skills back to help those communities grow and prosper.
As the Speech from the Throne makes clear, the Government of Canada intends to do even more by working in partnership with the provinces, business and labour, voluntary groups, youth and their families to ensure that young Canadians have access to the skills and knowledge they need in today's economy. Federal, provincial and territorial governments are working to address the problems that face youth. The first ministers will discuss the issue at their meeting this fall, as I mentioned earlier.
The commitment is vast because all of us must contribute to meeting the challenge, each in our areas of competency. All Canadians have a stake in meeting that challenge successfully.
This is an ambitious yet vital agenda since its success will ensure that our youth are prepared for the jobs of the next millennium.
I call upon all members of the House today to defeat the defeatist motion by the member of the opposition. By doing so we will be sending the signal of support for our young people, thereby ensuring a prosperous future for our country. Our young people of today are our future of tomorrow. Our goal is to balance the books and then to spend 50 percent on investment in people and programs. I believe this is responsible.
We will split our budgetary surpluses on a 50:50 basis over the course of our second mandate. Half will go to investment in social and economic priorities.
I cannot believe that a member on the other side of the House would find the youth of today not to be one of those economic and social priorities.
The other half will go to a combination of tax reductions and debt repayment. Members on the other side talk about how there will be no tax reductions. That has not been decided. We will consult with Canadians as we have in the past. There has been a lot of talk about consultation but the government is the first one in many years to consult with Canadians. The hon. member for Medicine Hat has participated in those consultations, in what we called prebudget consultations with Canadians.
When the finance minister releases his economic statement later this fall I assume there will again be consultations with Canadians. They will be asked for their input concerning what will happen, the direction of Canada's future and how they want the 50:50 ratio to be adapted.
They gave us a vote of confidence in the last election in which they said to this government “we want you back, we like your balanced approach, we respect the fact that there needs to be spending on social and economic priorities, we know that there is an issue of getting the debt under control and we are concerned about the level of taxation”.
This government has proven that a balanced record and a balanced approach are best for Canada and what guarantee a great future for this country. I cannot believe the member for Medicine Hat could put forward today's motion after he sat on the finance committee with me as we travelled from Vancouver to Toronto. He also sat in on many meetings in Ottawa. He listened to the Canadians who came before us, in particular young Canadians who said they wanted a future in Canada, that they wanted to be a priority, that they were looking for investment in that future.
Today I stand here and ask again that everyone defeat this motion and send the signal to our young people that they are our priority.
