House of Commons photoWon her last election, in 2019, with 47% of the vote.
Business of Supply November 1st, 2006
Mr. Chair, one thing we did commit to in our platform, another promise made another promise kept, is the creation of a seniors council to ensure that the interests of seniors are not only recognized, but respected. We will be drawing on that and making an announcement on that in the future. I can assure the hon. member that seniors are important to us. That is why we are doing this. That is why we gave them the tax relief yesterday.
Business of Supply November 1st, 2006
Mr. Chair, I am not sure I understand the question as to whether I remember a specific item or another item.
Business of Supply November 1st, 2006
Mr. Chair, as I explained to the hon. member's colleagues a little while ago, the discussions about those agreements are resting right now within the department of the Minister of Finance. They will be discussed and are being discussed in the context of the fiscal balance. I am sure those arrangements will be made as soon as possible.
Business of Supply November 1st, 2006
Mr. Chair, we do not do racial profiling when we put together a committee. What we do is we engage experts who have a compassion within the subject area.
The hon. members may want to listen to what I am about to say. We have also consulted with aboriginal Canadians in regional meetings. We have had two meetings with the AFN. My officials launched aboriginal specific consultations two weeks ago to ensure we understood their needs and try to find the best way to meet those needs.
Business of Supply November 1st, 2006
Mr. Chair, between myself, my officials, my department and the ministerial advisory committee, we are consulting with Canadians right across the country on how best to design the incentives to create the new child care spaces, the ones that the Liberals promised for 13 years but, oops, did not deliver. We are working on that.
Quite frankly, when we presented that symbolic cheque that was to ensure parents knew this program was available to them.
Business of Supply November 1st, 2006
Mr. Chair, we are trying to ensure that employers have access to the skilled workers they need and that workers have access to the jobs where their skills can be used. There are a number of ways to achieve that. One that I have mentioned several times this evening is through economic development. I have several colleagues who are working on economic development, particularly in vulnerable communities. We hope to implement our older workers initiative so that jobs can be created for them. However, we need to break down the barriers of people moving from one area to another and not having their credentials recognized within this country.
Business of Supply November 1st, 2006
Mr. Chair, it is exactly the contrary. We have improved our standard of delivery to 80% within 28 days since the departments were combined. Last year, when I was sitting on that side of the House and those people were over here, people in own riding were waiting 10 to 12 weeks when there were five departments handling this portfolio.
Business of Supply November 1st, 2006
Mr. Chair, eight weeks is a very high number but it is an exception. Our performance rate shows that 80% of EI claimants receive their cheque within 28 days. We are putting in a lot of effort to get that higher than 80%. However, unfortunately that is the system we inherited from the previous government.
Business of Supply November 1st, 2006
Mr. Chair, we make every effort to get the cheques out to EI claimants as quickly as possible. We do have a 28 day standard and we try to stay within that at all times. Unfortunately, from time to time there are great peaks in demand, particularly seasonally, for example, in agricultural areas, and at that time we do take measures to deal with the situation so people get their benefits within the 28 days.
Business of Supply November 1st, 2006
Mr. Chair, unfortunately, we have a great need for assistance with homelessness in this country.
As a result, we have almost 400 different funding partners with whom we work. Unfortunately, I am not aware of the details of all of these programs. I am not aware of the specific program to which the member is referring but if she would like to approach me outside of the chamber I would be happy to check into the details of it for her.