I just want to make a couple of comments.
Mr. Lessard talked about western Canada, and the poor people they saw. Some of the policies we brought in—the working income tax benefit—are supposed to...because we're talking about the working poor, so that is part of the WITB program. Then they asked about the people who are not eligible for employment insurance. That is exactly what the labour market agreements were with the provinces.
So there has to be an acknowledgement of what has been done, specifically that every problem he has cited is being responded to through programs, and the increased funding in all these areas has been more than has ever been funded.
If you want to talk about the homeless, there is the partnering strategy; we're trying to engage local communities and community leaders and our provinces. A lot of this is worked through the province where the employment insurance...where they're not eligible.
When it comes to employment insurance, the benefits are being used for training. As well, we're spending a lot of money on skills and training, because many people here in the employability study have said that part of the solution to poverty is to get a good job and to get training and skills. I would say most of our employability study concentrates on that, and if we do this right, this motion can be moot, because we can be discussing all the things he has suggested. All of these scenarios are coming through on our employability study, and that's why I urge us to get back to the employability study. Let's have it done before Easter.
I think all the things that he said come up, each motion, one by one.... We hear that these issues are critical and they're crises, and that's why the sooner we get some of these ideas into print, into a report, and acknowledged by the government, I think the sooner some of these situations he is telling us about today can be looked at, because we are working for all of Canada.
I realize he's only working for Quebec, but we want Quebec to be a part of this, and that is why we have looked at the big picture. I'm sorry, we have to include Quebec with our policies and programs. I'm really disappointed he doesn't want them to be a part of it. I just think that they, too, want to be part of the economy. It's growing. Quebec, particularly, did very well with the targeted initiative for older workers; because they were in a crisis situation, they got more. I believe they got quite a bit of the funding, more than others.
More than any other government, we invested in all these programs. It's not something that can be dismissed through a motion, when this is what our employability study is all about—all these situations, all these scenarios. It's why we're here and it's why we want to get this employability study done. We are in critical.... There are labour shortages and skills shortages. That's what we're looking at, so I think the sooner we get back to this study....
I do not want to see it go past Easter. I have no time to spend at extra meetings trying to get it done, because all of a sudden they're going to decide we need this employability study done. I want to do it now and do it properly. I think we'll address all the issues this motion is trying to do. So why don't we work through this, and then he can perhaps make these suggestions, and they will be good suggestions.
Thank you.