Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good afternoon, gentlemen; good afternoon, Madam. First, I am going to talk to Mr. Rochon.
Mr. Rochon, I have always had great reservations about model-based approaches and forecasts. Although you consider some contingencies, this is still just a projection.
You say that, thanks to its Economic Action Plan, the government has created 220,000 jobs. I have a lot of difficulty grasping the truth of a statement like that. I am not doubting your work. But thousands of jobs have been lost in Quebec, especially in manufacturing and forestry. You are trying to sell me Canada's, or rather this government's, Economic Action Plan, which is supposed to have created 220,000 jobs, but I am having a really hard time swallowing it.
Then there is the matter of investments in housing. Just last week, some groups in Canada and Quebec said once more that they had not seen one red cent of the money that was supposed to have been invested, in social housing specifically. You understand why I might have my doubts about your opening statement.
You also mention the work-sharing program. It could be said that that program creates no jobs, it just moves the problem elsewhere. In a job with shared shifts, people share the work between themselves, and one group receives employment insurance one week and works the next week, and so on. People who were working now get employment insurance.
So it is difficult for me to accept your figures. Could you just take a few minutes to explain to me how I can accept the figures you have presented?