Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If we remove that money, I expect that the $4.2 million worth of jobs would probably disappear, because that is money that is specifically earmarked for new jobs. So it's not to fund jobs in existing communities. So that's $4.2 million worth of new jobs that wouldn't exist.

But I will say that to build an economy, you need a workforce. And you can have all the natural resources, you can have everything else in place but if there's no workforce, you can't have an economy. You can't build businesses.

And so what this program that has been successful in doing, and this is stated in the report, is giving people opportunities. So in the smallest communities, where there might be no work, this money is giving people the chance to get their foot in the door, to get those soft skills that you need to actually to get into the job market.

In communities there is often a few people you go to if you know you need someone for a job. Well this allows employers to take chances on other people in the community. You know, they've already got those few people employed now, maybe they'll give someone else a chance. So those are the types of things that are happening. We're giving people the skills they need to become qualified and trained employees, and that's how you build an economy.

You can start a business if you actually have people to work. If you have no staff, it's very difficult to do that. So if we take the money away, those jobs will disappear. We are slowly but surely building a workforce for the future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.