Youth Voluntary Service  Mr. Speaker, obviously when I came in and realized that I had this lottery win, I got all excited. I said, “Great. I'm going to force the government to implement a national youth service policy”. Then I found out that we cannot move things that require the spending of money. Therefore the best goal and the most exciting thing for me is to get this room talking about national service, to get this room talking about youth and about the opportunity to invest in them, and to open a dialogue with all these organizations that are frustrated because they cannot seem to get the government and previous governments to invest adequately in young people.

Youth Voluntary Service  Mr. Speaker, the hon. member's question indeed is a good one. The reality, however, is that young people do not always have the opportunity to serve. Going to northern Canada to help out in a community that needs help is not something many young people can do on their own. The idea of recognizing and valuing a service framework is such that young people would buy into a culture of service because there would be opportunities for it.

Youth Voluntary Service  moved: That the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities be instructed to consider the introduction in Canada of a national voluntary service policy for young people by analyzing existing programs and using the work done by the Voluntary Sector Initiative in 2003 as its point of departure; by holding public hearings; and by presenting a report to the House no later than October 2009 that would contain among other things a review of similar policies in the rest of the world and a summary of the evidence heard.

La Francophonie  Mr. Speaker, the Minister for La Francophonie may be asleep at the switch once again. Her colleague, the Minister of International Cooperation, has cut off funding for a number of African countries who are our partners within the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. What explanation is the Minister for La Francophonie going to give to our colleagues in Rwanda, Niger, Burkina Faso, Benin and all the other countries now excluded from priority bilateral aid from Canada?

La Francophonie  Mr. Speaker, what we want to know is what role the Minister for La Francophonie played? Was she consulted when those four countries were struck from the list? Did she give her blessing to the abandonment of all those African countries with which we have a special relationship through La Francophonie?

Economic and Fiscal Statement  Mr. Speaker, I would like to underscore the attitude of respect and cooperation that now exists in this House of Commons. The Conservative government promised a new era of cooperation and respect, and failed in that regard. We witnessed a historic moment when a coalition was formed.

Affordable Housing  Mr. Speaker, over the past 18 months, in my travels throughout my riding of Papineau, I heard time and time again how access to affordable housing is a major challenge for Canadian families. High housing costs mean young people and new Canadians cannot buy homes, which leads to increased pressure on existing affordable housing.

Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, to begin with, I would like to take a moment to thank the people of Papineau for giving me the honour of representing them here in this House. It is a responsibility I will fulfill with grace and humility. The government is at last admitting that Canada will, as it has under previous Conservative governments, again have a budget deficit.