Leadership Races  Manage your expectations, Mr. Speaker. 'Twas the week before Christmas and one thing's for certain; Both Opposition Parties were definitely hurtin'. In their letter to Santa, they each had one ask; To find a new leader, who was up to the task. The orange leader looked beaten, a force that was spent; When all he could muster was 47%.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, I have been in this House for 16 years, and I can say with great confidence that there has never been a greater champion for youth in the House, no greater champion for youth as a prime minister, than the current Prime Minister and the initiatives he has taken, not just now, but going forward as well.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to present a petition on behalf of a number of residents, the good people of Arichat, Louisdale, Petit-de-Grat, D'Escousse, and many in Richmond County. They are concerned about community television and community television access. They want the government to ensure that communities have access to a network of community-operated media centres.

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2  Mr. Speaker, the benefit of being in the House for 16 years, and the anniversary is next week, is that we have seen a number of closure motions. The Conservatives talk about closure. They used it 100 times in the last Parliament. The NDP are talking about it. I remember when David Anderson was trying to get the Kyoto agreement through the House, and the Conservatives were filibustering on its ratification.

Employment  Mr. Speaker, as I said before, certainly the investments we are making are starting to show that kind of increase in jobs. Among young Canadians, we have seen an increase of about 26,000 jobs. What we know is that back in October 2015, Statistics Canada started publishing trend lines, and what we have seen over the last four months is job opportunities trending up in this country.

Employment  Mr. Speaker, as I said to my hon. colleague, we have been making investments. In talking about growing the economy, I spoke with a number of men today from the construction sector, who like the investments we have been making in infrastructure. We are putting tradespeople back to work with the investments we are making in infrastructure.

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, obviously the job survey that came out today is a snapshot of time. On the numbers for October, there were some positive aspects in there. There have been increases in employment, and the participation rate has gone up as well. Of the jobs created, two-thirds of them were in the private sector.

Post-Secondary Education  Mr. Speaker, certainly we are committed to the students, not just in Quebec but right across Canada. In the member's own province he would know of the increase that we have made in the student grant program, though Quebec does not take part in that. We transferred $290 million for that program and we just added an additional $80 million.

Post-Secondary Education  Mr. Speaker, yesterday was a great day for Canadians students as the loan repayment act came into being and now Canadian students do not have to start their repayment until they have employment that pays over $25,000 annually. This is over and above the $1.5 billion that this government has invested in student grants.

Post-Secondary Education  Mr. Speaker, we understand fully that it is important to offer young Canadians that opportunity for a first job. We have doubled the amount of money for the youth employment strategy and doubled the number of summer jobs for young Canadians. I would like to thank the student organizations, those I have met with.

Employment  Mr. Speaker, I know that if the member spoke to students in her riding, the students would have said that they were very pleased with the investments that this government has been making in students. The student grant program has just been increased by $1.5 billion. Low-income students have now seen their grant potential rise from $2,000 to $3,000 annually.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, I am happy to see that the Conservative bench is really pleased about the $4 billion that we invested in students in this country, such as the $330 million for the youth employment strategy, the $1.5 billion for student grants, and the $125 million for all MBAs. We believe in investing in students in this country.

Labour  Mr. Speaker, this government certainly does recognize the challenges that are facing our workforce now, especially young Canadians. The parliamentary budget officer, in his report, said that the changing job market was offering different types of positions for young Canadians.

Youth Employment  Mr. Speaker, Canadians recognize, certainly the stakeholders I meet with do, that there is an evolving job market out there, particularly for young Canadians. That is why we have made historic investments in skills training and education. These, in turn, will yield good-paying jobs.

Canada Pension Plan  Madam Speaker, my colleague is a veteran member of the chamber and I would like his comments on this. The former prime minister, Stephen Harper, announced the increase in the age of eligibility for OAS from 65 to 67 when he was not even in the country, but abroad at the World Economic Forum.