Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'd like to speak more particularly to the people from the Department of Human Resources and Social Development. I know that, for a number of years, you've been a pocket of resistance to the program for older worker adjustment. All the ministers who have arrived in the department have wanted to do something, but, after hearing you, they change their minds because there were apparently passive measures.
Mr. Crête cited some statistics earlier. He said that 71,000 jobs had been lost last year. According to the Canadian Exporters Association and according to the documents I have here, approximately 100,000 additional jobs were lost in the textile, clothing, leather and furniture industries. I don't get the impression these are people who have post-secondary diplomas. I don't know a lot of 59-year-old seamstresses who work on a two-needle overlock machine who have a post-secondary diploma.
What are we doing for those people, who are ultimately the victims of the dollar and the price of oil?
We're currently refusing to take measures like those we've had in the past, that is to say the Program for Older Worker Adjustment (POWA), which worked well. These people are victims. They lose their jobs, they receive employment insurance for a few weeks and then they're forced to sell everything they own. They're 58 or 59 years old, and the only way for them to receive welfare benefits is to sell what they own, thus losing their dignity.
How can we accept this situation? These are statistics, but ultimately there's a human drama and a host of solitudes behind every figure. What can we do for the least adaptable people who come from the soft and difficult sectors? I've never seen a seamstress working at IBM. What are we doing for these people?