Mr. Speaker, if you would allow me, first, as a good Liberal, I would ask for permission to share my time with my colleague, the member for Abitibi.
Our opposition colleagues do not seem to recognize the government's commitment or its previous record of improving the economy and giving our young people more job opportunities.
As we said in our initial action plan for renewing the federation, entitled “Creating Opportunity” and repeated in the document “Securing our Future Together”, the future belongs to societies that have a dynamic economy, that look after public health, that promote child development and that invest in knowledge, education and innovation.
The Government of Canada has clearly indicated that these are our values and priorities. Moreover, we are making progress in each of these sectors. My colleagues have already outlined some of our outstanding achievements in this regard, our exceptional results in putting our fiscal house in order and our increased investments in health care and in programs designed to reduce child poverty.
My remarks will then focus first and foremost on the efforts made to help Canadians acquire the skills and knowledge that they will need to support competition in an ever changing world. We should not delude ourselves; the world is changing very rapidly.
The technological revolution, the information society and the world economy are modern realities that go beyond our borders and over which we have no control as a country.
Canada's economic opportunities increasingly depend on the skills and strengths of our labour force. As well, our quality of life depends on our ability to think, innovate and create in a world transformed by information and technology.
Those who question this fundamental fact in the new economy only have to look at the present job situation. Since 1981, the number of jobs for Canadians with only a high school diploma has fallen by 2 million, while the number of jobs requiring more advanced skills has risen by more than 5 million.
Obviously, Canadians with higher education levels have better job opportunities, better job security and higher-paid jobs. The unemployment level for people without a high school diploma stands at 15%, while it is only 5% for university graduates. Training will help to reduce the gap between these two groups.
This is why the cornerstone of the new Canada opportunities strategy is the Canada millennium scholarship program. I want to point out that more than 100,000 scholarships, funded through an initial endowment of $2.5 billion, will be granted each year to full—and part-time students during the first 10 years of the next millennium.
The Canada millennium scholarship program will invest in the knowledge and creativity of young Canadian and improve their access to post-secondary education. The scholarships will average $3,000 a year per student.
Whether they choose to attend a cegep, a community college, a professional or technical institution or a university, students will be eligible to receive up to $15,000 over a four-year period to complete their education and get a diploma or a certificate.
The Canada opportunities strategy will help Canadians still in school or already in the workforce to increase their knowledge and their skills in order to improve their career opportunities.
The number of adults who choose to go back to school full time is three times higher than it was 20 years ago. Most of them have made that decision because of work related reasons. The strategy will make this easier for a greater number of people. Starting on January 1, 1999, Canadians will be allowed to withdraw funds from their RRSPs tax free in order to go back to school.
For those who have completed their education but are facing financial difficulties and find it hard to pay back their student loans, the Canadian opportunities strategy provides for more flexibility as well as interest relief. Interest relief on Canada student loans means that the Canadian government will make interest payments for up to 30 months after the completion of the student's education. The income threshold to qualify for relief is $20,460.
Families are encouraged to save a little bit of money each month for their children's education. The Canada education savings grant will help them. Families that contribute to a registered education savings plan will receive a 20% grant from the Canadian government for the first $2,000 in contributions. Small savings today could pave the way to a brilliant future in post-secondary education.
All these measures will bring about sustainable and meaningful improvements and will be a very effective and tangible way to fight poverty. The Canadian opportunities strategy will be a great contribution to the fight against poverty.
The strategy will make post-secondary education more accessible by helping needy students overcome the problem of higher education costs. We will be giving more help to students who have to support dependents, to part-time students and to those who conduct advanced research or go pursue graduate studies
We will help students pay back their student loans. We will help families save money for their children's education. We will encourage employers to hire young people, and we will help a greater number of students take advantage of information technologies.
Our Canadian opportunities strategy introduced in the last budget and our employment insurance system are two good examples of how the federal government devotes its energy to helping Canadians adjust to changes on the job market in the 1990s and take advantage of opportunities in the new economy.
Our goal is to create more opportunities for Canadians, and young Canadians in particular, to succeed in the new knowledge based economy. I therefore urge the hon. members to recognize the action taken by this government to help reduce the income spread between Canadians and fight poverty.
It was Theodore Roosevelt who said that those who build the future are the ones who do something, not those who complain about how it should have been done.
