Mr. Speaker, after listening to the response to the budget proposal of Tuesday and examining very carefully the comments of members of the opposition, outside commentators and others, I am struck by one very sad and disappointing realization.
People still have not come to grips with the fact that there is a jobs crisis in this country just as there is a jobs crisis right around the world. They have not really come to terms with the reality but we are going to have to look at a fundamental change in employment strategy for this country and begin to make the changes to make it work.
The Bloc Quebecois, out of sheer partisanship, is claiming that the budget is an attack on the unemployed. However, what it neglects to say is that the budget is an attack on unemployment. The Bloc prefers to see people remain on unemployment insurance rather than have a chance at getting a job.
The difference is that we want people to go back to work while they want to protect the status quo. They want to protect the old way and not look to create new opportunities.
The Reform Party has elevated the reduction of the deficit to an end in itself, not what it will do, not what impact it might have, but an end in itself to the point even that the member for Medicine Hat rises in this House and says that we should have a complete cancellation of government programs for training at a time when every single whip would know that the best investment we can make is in the people of this country.
The outside commentators who have commented on the budget have said that the government in reducing UI benefits, is doing what the Conservatives said they were going to do. What they ignore is how the changes we made are designed to put people back to work.
It is about time in this Chamber, in this city and across this country that we begin to examine seriously how to create work, how to find work for Canadians, how we distribute work and how we prepare people for work. That is the overriding, ever compelling responsibility of this government and it should be the responsibility of all members of this Chamber.
The shortage of jobs is world-wide. We know that. It is not simply happening in Canada. In two weeks time, there will be a major job summit of the G-7 countries at which we are going to come together to examine this shrinkage of employment, the shredding of jobs.
The OECD has said that the number one employment problem in European countries is the lack of job creation. We are finding increasingly that all the old standards, all the old formulas no longer work. One pushes the levers of productivity, competition and growth and it does not end up in jobs. It is like pushing a wet string.
Therefore we have to put our minds to the serious question of how we begin to find jobs. That means that we have to take a look at what is happening in the employment market of this country. For example, 10 years ago part-time work was about 10 per cent of all jobs created. It is now close to 20 per cent.
In the 1990s all new jobs will require a minimum of post-secondary education. Between 1990 and 1993 jobs held by university graduates increased by 17 per cent, those held by high school graduates increased .5 per cent, and the jobs held by those who did not graduate from high school decreased by 17 per cent.
That is an enormous revolution in the world of work. We have members in this House unable, unwilling and not ready to begin facing that new reality, talking about defending the old ways of doing things. The world of work is changing and it is about time members opposite began to change with it.
I have just come from a meeting of a group of labour leaders, business leaders and academics, a special group I have established to look at this question of work, the distribution of work, and who are prepared to join a common cause to look at this issue. The conclusion at the first meeting is clear. The traditional strategies of productivity and economic growth are not working any more. The time for political posturing is over.
I would say to members who have spent a great deal of time in this House, Reform members, Bloc members, our own members, we must make Parliament relevant again. The best way to make Parliament relevant is to start talking about relevant things such as how we get people back to work.
That is what the budget of Tuesday did. It began to set the stage, the foundation, the framework by which we can begin to create a new employment strategy for Canadians. That is what Canadians want. That is why they elected us in October.
All the other smoke-screens and masquerades and charades that we have heard will not mask the fundamental fact that the deep, abiding, overwhelming commitment of all members of this government is to get Canadians back to work. We invite members opposite to help us in that task. Just take a look, let us
clear away all the attempts to short-circuit and create smoke-screens.
Let me give some clear indication of our commitment to job creation. The leader of the Reform Party wanted to know what we are going to do about it.
The infrastructure program has been part of the budget, 65,000 direct jobs and perhaps close to 130,000 indirect jobs as a result. The youth service program has 17,000 as a first estimate. By an interim program to help get young people from school into the workplace we are talking about 60,000. On the reduction of the UI premiums alone, from a statutory requirement to be raised to $3.30 by 1995 will be brought down to $3.00 which in itself will create 40,000 jobs.
On a rough total, my mathematics are pretty simple, that adds up to over 180,000 to 200,000 jobs forecast by direct initiatives of this government alone.
We believe that will set the climate in which the private sector can respond. It will begin to set the engine rolling, it will begin to put a catalyst in the system so once again people will no longer have the insecurity of not knowing where the jobs are. They will know they have a government that cares where their jobs are and that is going to do something about it.
When we hear all these cherry-picking criticisms, let us not forget the central task that we have to begin to mould our programs, our initiatives and our policies around that central fundamental issue of how to get people working again.
Let me talk for a minute about the unemployment insurance changes. Members opposite have made a great deal of effort to try to distort the actual meaning of what took place. How can they distort the fact that in every single consultation that the Minister of Finance and, in every single meeting right across this country, we heard small business say to us that if we reduce the premiums, if we begin to reduce the burden of the payroll tax, if we begin to show for the first time that we are prepared to give small business a chance, it will go out and create work for Canadians?
That is exactly what we have done. We have started a contract with the small business community across this country to say: We are beginning to do our part, now do yours. That is the message in the budget.
To give one example, if there is a small enterprise of 100 employees, the net effect of the changes announced by the Minister of Finance would be a net saving to that employer of $30,000. There is one new job all by itself. What is wrong with that and why do members opposite oppose creating another new job in a small business?
I want answers from them because they have not given them so far. All they are asking is how do we keep people on unemployment insurance. They do not ask how we put people back in the work place. That is the question they should be asking themselves.
Certainly we have made a very clear linkage between one's work history and the amount of benefits provided. Some ask why. I would like to cite a couple of examples. It is time we began to break that sense that UI itself has become part of the wage scale of so many Canadians.
I have a copy of a letter written to the Minister of Finance from someone living in a small town in British Columbia. The letter says: "The people in this town do the necessary work and then refuse any further work until next year. They feel that the only time they need to work is to build up their UI claims and that they do not feel the need to do further work". The sad part about this is that they say their children are beginning to do the same.
We are building a culture in which we are saying that the only requirement is to get a bare minimum of 10 weeks and then one can be on pogey for the next 42 weeks. There is no relationship between work and benefit. We believe that unemployment insurance is crucial. It is a vital program. It is an essential program but it shall not be used to provide a replacement for work. It should be simply-