Mr. Speaker, today in the House of Commons the minister of human resources outlined his government's strategy to modernize and restructure Canada's system of social security between now and September.
It is an ambitious plan. While I commend the minister on his efforts I hope this process will be sufficient for the amount and extent of overhaul promised.
I hope too that this very open and important phase of consultations with the Canadian public will not be rendered obsolete before they even get off the ground when his colleague, the Minister of Finance, tables his budget in February.
I remind the minister that at the end of the process millions of Canadians will be holding the minister to his promise to renew and revitalize rather than slash and trash Canada's social safety net.
New Democrats, particularly those from my home province of Saskatchewan, have an interest in this review as they were instrumental in developing Canada's social programs in the first place.
The foundation of compassion and caring on which these social programs were built took decades to cement. We cannot allow it to be ripped apart on the altar of deficit reduction.