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Mr. Speaker, for 13 long years, ordinary Canadians and young people were left off the Liberal government's political agenda. The Speech from the Throne was once again silent on post-secondary education.

Will the current government also remain silent? We need stable, long-term funding for education to increase Canada's competitiveness in the global economy.

Will the government boost our investment in education?
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Ms. Denise Savoie (Victoria, NDP): Mr. Speaker, students and working families have waited long enough for relief from soaring tuition fees. We need an immediate comprehensive strategy, accompanied by a pan-Canadian lifelong learning and training plan, to address the skills shortage. What exactly is the government planning to do to address this issue now?

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member referred to the lack of a commitment to young people. The post-secondary education transfer is still one of the most urgent aspects of the fiscal imbalance that we are discussing. Yesterday, the Minister of Finance dodged a question in this regard by saying that we would have to wait for the budget first, and then the consultations and deliberations, before we could address this important question. While the minister just sits on his hands, the students at universities and colleges are suffering under terrible debt loads, which just get worse.
Does the hon. member believe, as I do, that if we want to see this brilliant future that the throne speech talks about, we must first act much more quickly than this government seems ready to do and then—

Mr. Speaker, I am glad that the government wants to give our constituents choices, but before leaving Victoria I received a visit from many parents who were very concerned about the lack of their prospects next year when there will be no new child care spaces created. Many of them plan to be going to university next year and now they are faced with uncertainty. Many young parents simply lack the funds.

In Victoria, child care costs for one month are about $800. It is obvious that $1,200 will not go very far. I am wondering if the government truly wants to give Canadians choices, whether it will consider broadening its definition of choice.

Ottawa – Denise Savoie, MP for Victoria, today expressed mixed emotions about the Speech from the Throne.

“I am encouraged that the government has listened to the NDP and included some of the key priorities of the people of Victoria. However, I am frankly quite disappointed that several other crucial issues were either glossed over or omitted altogether.”

Savoie was pleased that the government included “working families” as a priority, and that they appeared to show some flexibility about the creation of child care spaces and the protection of public health care. However, Savoie was frustrated that serious issues of great concern to her constituents received only brief attention or none at all.

OTTAWA (CP) _ Literacy groups are demanding that the federal government put back the $17.7 million cut from adult literacy programs _ and then some.

The Harper Conservatives announced the cuts recently as part of a plan to slash $1 billion in federal spending.
The cuts have sent shockwaves through the learning community, says Wendy DesBrisay with the Movement for Canadian Literacy.

“The cuts will decimate the infrastructure built co-operatively by all levels of government and the literacy community and will set us back years in our ability to meet the literacy challenges of Canadians,'’ DesBrisay told a news conference Wednesday.