Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for his question.
I must tell the hon. member that as a member of Parliament I have taken a great deal of time to examine the transformation that has occurred in our society and indeed in our economy. What is fundamental in that examination is the fact that we simply cannot look at issues the way we did before. If I can use these words, given some of the words being used by the Premier of Ontario, we have to look at a new contract, a new set of arrangements between the individual, the community and government. In that sense what is fundamental for the success of this new contract is full co-operation between the various stakeholders in our community.
There are programs today in Canada that date back to the 1940s. They have been tinkered with, but essentially they have never gone through the type of review that is necessary to upgrade and to make them relevant to the present situation. In this social security review that is taking place today and that is being started this morning by the minister, we have to rethink the way we provide services. We have to rethink the purpose for unemployment insurance. We must modernize what individual Canadians have grown accustomed to.
Fundamentally, this change is necessary simply because of the fact that we cannot tell the single mother who is compelled, with her children, to stand in front of the local food bank for her daily meal that this is the way our country is going to deal with her reality. Nor is it fair to tell the high school dropout who is hoping for a better tomorrow that he will be in long-term, chronic unemployment because the measures that we as a government and as a people are taking are not effective.
There is a moral obligation on the part of all members of Parliament on both sides of this House to engage in the type of dialogue that the Minister of Human Resources Development initiated today so that our programs, the delivery of our services, are efficient, modern and updated to the reality of the global village in which we live today.
I hope that in summary answers the hon. member's question. I am certain, given his dedication to representing his constituents, that he will participate fully in this very comprehensive review of our social security system.