Thank you.
You say you believe it is important to create jobs and you don't want to see these older workers moving. What about some of the programs that have been introduced, for example, the targeted initiative for older workers? You haven't told us if you've seen how those programs are working. Of course they're new. Many programs have been introduced that are trying to get people back into the workforce because of our skills and labour shortage.
There has even been money put toward literacy--Ms. Savoie brought up literacy. There has been money through the workplace skills initiative. So moneys like that are going directly to help those who don't qualify for employment insurance--plus the labour market agreements.
If we decided to take this program, which will cost about $1 billion--and as Mr. Savage said, there are very many other programs that are looking to employment insurance to be the solution for the problems of some of the unemployed--we would probably have to let some of those programs go. You haven't examined that yet to see if it would be a good thing to do. Do you know what the impact of this bill will be? Have you seen how some of the programs we have delivered are working?
As you said, you've been around for 20 years and you've been with this bill for seven. Perhaps you should go back to the drawing board and see what has been implemented. Maybe some of its benefits or requirements have to be modernized. But I think employment insurance is trying to work with the employees and employers of the day. To say that it's all about big business, many small businesses also sat at that table and said that any increases in premiums would hurt them. They aren't all big companies. So I'm just wondering how much detail was put into the impact.
There are many ways we could be addressing the people you've identified. In Saskatchewan, when the economy is booming and the jobs are increasing significantly we put more women and aboriginal people to work. So any time you can create a good and healthy economy...and that's what we are trying to do.
I think the government is trying to concentrate more on training, skills, and having a well-educated and flexible workforce. We can't do that if we just pay people to stay home. There should be initiatives for businesses to do retraining. There are so many businesses now going into high tech. I was in a welding shop not long ago and they were using a computer. So people who weld can make a transition.
I'm not sure if you can come into a new timeline. Perhaps it's time to look at what the government has been doing and see the successes. I don't think your province would like to see the labour market agreement cut. I'm sure they're putting a lot of their people to work with that, because those are people who can't qualify for employment insurance.