Human Resources committee  I will make the general presentation and my colleague will be able to answer questions as required. The CSD is a congress of unions located in Quebec. We represent 70,000 workers. While we have workers from the health and social services network and from municipalities, we are m

Human Resources committee  I am not an expert on the question of creating a separate board. However, it has been pointed out that money has been virtually siphoned off, money from the premiums paid by employers and workers has been looted. This is totally unacceptable. We had proposed that an independent

Human Resources committee  Are there 30 seconds left?

Human Resources committee  That's good. I think, first, that the $54.1 billion surplus should be used to improve the scheme, the eligibility criteria and the benefits paid to people who are unemployed. We should also take this opportunity to create a new program, an income support program for older worker

Finance committee  I see a very pessimistic outlook. Earlier I heard a colleague state here that the job losses we are currently seeing are just the tip of the iceberg, given that they came in the wake of the rise of the Canadian dollar, and so I'm doubly concerned. People are claiming that in eco

Finance committee  It may well be that in certain circumstances, where some sectors of economic activity are negatively affected, others benefit for different reasons that I am not aware of. I am not an economist by training. What we have noticed among the workers that we represent is that this jo

Finance committee  I tend to agree. The Minister of Finance is an orchestra conductor who must work in concert with the provinces to develop a support strategy for businesses, a strategy to revive businesses in certain sectors of economic activity and also a strategy to help re-skill workers, when

Finance committee  Indeed. For people who have worked all their lives in a textile mill or in a factory that produces kitchen appliances, it is not easy to suddenly envisage going to work in a high technology firm. It is these people, who have neither the means nor the ability to find another job,

Finance committee  Thank you for allowing the Centrale des syndicats démocratiques to express its views on the impact that the value of the Canadian dollar is having on the economy, especially in the manufacturing sector in Quebec. The rise in the dollar since 2002, and in particular its meteoric