Suzanne Tremblay

[Employment Insurance, September 17th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the previous minister of finance siphoned $45 billion from the employment insurance fund, while reducing benefits, so that today, only 33% of women and 44% of men out of work are entitled to EI.

Does the Minister of Finance, who is going to help himself to another $3 billion from the employment insurance fund again this year, intend to continue his predecessor's policy of systematic pillaging for much longer?

[Employment Insurance, September 15th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the transitional measures for the Lower St. Lawrence and the North Shore will end on October 11. This means that, at that time, thousands more unemployed workers will be unable to qualify for employment insurance.

Given the conditions brought about by the softwood lumber crisis and the decline in tourism, among others, is the minister prepared to extend these transitional measures on which hundreds of families in the Lower St. Lawrence, North Shore and Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean regions depend for their survival?

[Employment Insurance, September 15th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, statistics from the CLC and the FTQ confirm what we are seeing every day in the field: fewer than 40% of workers benefit from employment insurance.

After 40 years of political life, how can the Prime Minister feel comfortable retiring after plunging thousands of families into poverty by denying more than 60% of workers access to employment insurance?

[Hélène Alarie, June 6th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, today I am pleased to tell the House about the honour received today by Hélène Alarie, a member of our party in the House of Commons from 1997 to 2000, now vice-president of the Bloc Quebecois and the first woman agrologist in Quebec.

Today, June 6, Ms. Alarie received the highest distinction of her profession, when she was made a Commandeur de l'Ordre du mérite agronomique, in recognition of her exceptional commitment.

We know that Ms. Alarie, a professional agrologist for 40 years and well known in her profession within Quebec, has worked actively on behalf of farmers and continues to work on GMOs and other issues.

She is the daughter of an agrologist, Albert Alarie, who received the same award in 1981. And today is also Ms. Alarie's 62nd birthday.

Our congratulations and very best wishes go to Ms. Alarie.

[Employment Insurance, June 5th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the government knows that several regions are going through a very difficult time because of the softwood lumber crisis.

What is the minister waiting for to relax the EI rules and provide income assistance, as the government did for the SARS crisis in Toronto and the fisheries crisis in the eastern provinces, to prevent a socio-economic tragedy in these regions?

[Employment Insurance, June 5th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, allow me to take 30 seconds to say thank you. My appearance may have changed slightly, but my temperament has not.

In Dégelis, the Bowater sawmill is calling back workers for 11 weeks because it does not want the wood in its yard to go to waste. Eleven weeks is 440 hours of work.

With the transitional measures for employment insurance in eastern Quebec and the North Shore soon coming to an end, the workers in Dégelis are concerned they will not qualify for employment insurance.

What tangible measures does the Minister of Human Resources Development intend to put forward to deal with the reality of the regions affected by the softwood lumber crisis?

[Social Insurance Numbers, February 14th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the Employment Insurance Act requires that claimants prove their citizenship and identity to obtain a social insurance number.

The department only requires one document as proof, which goes against what the Auditor General has said, that two documents are required to meet the requirements of the act.

When is the minister going to give directives to officials to verify the citizenship and identity of social insurance number applicants diligently, before issuing the cards?

[Endangered Species Sanctuaries Act, February 13th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I am almost tempted to say, “This has been a paid message brought to you by the Department of Natural Resources”.

It is ridiculous to respond like this to a very serious problem. We are constantly being told that the government has invested $240 million for softwood lumber workers. That is not true. They invested $40 million for the bug problem in British Columbia. They invested $20 million for a research centre in Trois-Rivières, and they invested the rest to help workers across the country experiencing employment problems, not just in the softwood lumber industry, but any workers who were unemployed.

It is wrong to say that there is a specially designed program for softwood lumber workers. It is completely false. We have been out there, we have been to these places. We did not see any money. I would like the people of Baie-Trinité to hear what the member for Shefford is saying. I would like them to hear her little speech. They lost their jobs one year ago thanks to the negligence of this government, which has done nothing to solve the softwood lumber problem.

Now, she is telling us that they have something to help them. That is not true. There is nothing to help the workers of Baie-Trinité. Soon they will be on social assistance because their employment insurance is drying up. The mill has nothing in terms of new work.

This cannot really be considered a program designed for people suffering as a result of the softwood lumber dispute between Canada and the United States.

[Endangered Species Sanctuaries Act, February 13th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to rise tonight to try to have some form of discussion with the parliamentary secretary.

After 10 years in this House, I am always a little disappointed to see that, even though we are all trying to make things better for our fellow citizens, when we ask questions, this place looks more and more like a stage where everyone is trying to steal the show without making any effort to respond to the issues raised in our questions.

I am particularly interested in the softwood lumber issue. I believe that the government, which had known for a very long time that the softwood lumber agreement would expire on March 31, 2002, did nothing to ensure that the free trade agreement with the United States would be honoured.

As a result, the United States imposed a 27% tax, which is hurting us and especially those who work in the industry.

We, in the Bloc Quebecois, have decided to travel to the main regions of Quebec to see with our own eyes the problems facing these people. We have to acknowledge once and for all that some industries are seasonal in nature. There is nothing they can do about it. And every year, workers in these industries go through some tough times because of their seasonal jobs.

A reform of the employment insurance program was carried out. Just last week, the minister was telling me “Employment insurance was reformed. Now, every hour counts, and so on and so forth”. There is one thing she seems to be forgetting and that is the infamous divisor rule determining the number of work weeks required. Not only the hours, but the work weeks also count.

We have people working for a while and then becoming unemployed every year, at about the same period of time. The number of benefit weeks they are entitled to depends on the number of hours they have worked. But then they also encounter what we call the gap, which is the 5 to 10-week period when they have absolutely no income.

What we need to do is to recognize the problems linked to this gap and seasonal work and then we might find a solution so that these workers do not have to face the same situation year after year.

By making changes to the EI boundaries, we ended up encouraging fraud. For instance, villlage X and village Y may be on opposite sides of the EI boundary. On one side, the limit is set at 420 hours and on the other, it is 565 hours. So, a worker may be tempted to use an address from the village where 420 hours are required because he or she works for the same employer.

A reform was carried out, but now we need to reform the reform. That is what the government would do if it were serious and really cared about the interests of the people.

[Ice Golf, February 13th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, there will be a special event going on in my riding of Rimouski—Neigette-et-la Mitis from February 21 to 23 this year. A golf tournament will be held on the ice of the St. Lawrence River. The first edition, planned for 2002, could not take place because of insufficient ice cover, but this year there is plenty, and then some.

There will be a nine-hole course on the ice at Rimouski, opposite Île Saint-Barnabé. The distance between holes will be 30% less than standard, to reflect the winter temperatures and the surface played on. Since the greens will be white, the game will have to be played with coloured balls.

This original idea will attract about one hundred golfers from the Lower St. Lawrence, Gaspé and Quebec City, offering them the opportunity to demonstrate their skills on an icy surface while getting plenty of fresh air.

I wish to draw attention to this local event and to congratulate the organizers for this opportunity to have a different kind of fun during our Quebec winter.