That is what the members opposite want us to do. They want to perpetuate a system that is killing jobs in this country and destroying the incentive to work.
I think it is disgraceful at this time when there are so many unemployed Canadians that we have an opposition that says keep them that way, do not try to put them back to work.
Mr. Speaker, that is the position of the Bloc Quebecois. It prefers unemployment to jobs.
The fact of the matter is we have also said that we will begin to change our system to respond to need, that we recognize there are large numbers of people in that system who need special assistance.
Again we changed the UI program to ensure that those who have the greatest need will receive the greatest benefits and we have raised the benefits.
Some journalists yesterday asked me how we are different from the Tories. When we changed UI conditions we brought down benefits as a result to change work. When we changed benefits we made sure those most in need had the highest level of benefits.
We also have made fundamental changes to the voluntary quit portion to change the onus of responsibility from the employee to the employer to make sure there is a built-in fairness in the system. That is how we are different. We care about the workers.
The hon. member laughs. That is the hon. member who will stand in her place and say do something about social housing to create jobs but at the same time supports the party which has no interest in creating jobs by bringing down UI premiums, by changing the world of UI so that people have a chance.
That is the problem. I do not think that party is really interested in getting Canadians back to work. Its real agenda is to provide delay, distortion, to show that federalism does not work so its own self-prophecy of separatism will be the agenda, not putting people back to work. That is the real, true agenda of the Bloc Quebecois.
We fully recognize that those changes in themselves are not enough. They are just the beginning. That is why we have put in place within the budget a fundamental restructuring of those programs at the federal level. It can provide a new framework for employment in this country, our training programs, our employment programs, our educational programs, our assistance programs, and unemployment insurance, and to begin to provide the integration of those programs so they begin to reinforce one another, they begin to provide a synergy of assistance and are not simply used as a way of propping up old ways of doing things.
We recognize that action is required. We recognize that Canadians have voted for us, not for more studies, not for lengthy and delayed consultations. They want action. They want this government and this Parliament to show that it is ready to work to put Canadians back to work. That is the message we had and that is the message in the budget. That is why we believe that it is going to be absolutely crucial in the days and weeks ahead that we begin to build upon this framework.
A week or so ago we met with the provincial governments which have offered their full co-operation in a major program of reform. They are not hanging back, obscuring and obfuscating like members opposite have done during this budget debate. They are prepared to get in there and work.
What is more important is that in joint co-operation with the provinces we have come to an agreement that over the next year or two we will initiate a number of new programs targeted at the most chronically unemployed Canadians, those who have been on welfare for a long period of time, those who have exhausted benefits and those who have various employment handicaps.
The Minister of Finance has dedicated $800 million over the next two years to give this country a brand new lease on innovation. We are challenging the provinces, ourselves, employers, business groups and labour unions to become part of the new thinking and approach to the world of employment. We are prepared to use scarce resources to make sure that those hardest hit, those most in need, those with the longest record of unemployment will be given that assistance.
I can report to members of the House today that already we have applications and proposals from every single province in this country. That is the kind of spirit of co-operation we need. That is the kind of working together that Canadians expect. That is the kind of esprit that Canadians voted for, that we have a notion as to how we can bring Canadians together to reason together and find ways of working together. That is the kind of invitation we keep putting out to members of the opposition to respond to.
Of course they do not want to co-operate. We know why they do not. We know what their agenda is. We hear it every day in the House. Co-operation is not part of their make-up. Working together as Canadians is not part of their make-up. Trying to make this country economically strong and firm again is not part of their make-up. They have a very different, destructive, negative agenda but we will not let them succeed. We will not let them have their way because we want to put Canadians back to work.
We believe that the budget is the first step in giving Canadians a sense of a new direction, a sense that they recognize that there is now a plan in place, that we are moving toward a new employment strategy, that we will begin to work within the programs of our own level of government, work with provinces and work with the private sector to give that sense that we can begin to reorganize, restructure and reform the system of employment in this country.
I do not pretend it is going to be easy. I do not say it is something that is going to happen overnight. I recognize the difficulties of it. However, I also recognize that if we do nothing about it, if we simply hang on to the old shibboleth, if we simply echo the old arguments, if we simply hang on to the status quo then nothing will be done. We will not be able to have a better trained population. We will not be able to say to our young people that we are going to give them a chance to have a first time job with real employment, not to go on UI as their first source of income. We will not be able to say to older workers that we are prepared to help them get back to work.
My colleague, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, and I are presently working with other ministers on a program in the Atlantic in order to say to the 35,000 to 40,000 people in the fishing industry who have seen their livelihood disappear that we are prepared to give them a five year commitment of
long-term stability, to change their training, to change their careers and to put them back to work on eco tourism, aquaculture, restoring the resources, conserving the reap of the natural riches of the Atlantic provinces so they will no longer have to say, when they get up in the morning: "I have nothing to do. I am waiting for the fish to come back".
We are going to help them to go back to work and to put the fish back. They have been harvesting for 20 years. Now we think we can help them plan for the next 10. That is what we want to do. That is the new way of thinking about things. We are again working in co-operation with the provinces, the unions and the industry to make it happen.
I think that this is the great crusade for this Parliament. This is the great mission that we have before us. How do we once again give Canadians a sense of the dignity of work, the opportunity to have a livelihood based upon their labours and their creative talents, something that is the entitlement and the right of every Canadian?
It will not be perfect and we will not fill every hole. We are now putting in place a youth service corps for community employment, an intern program for workplace training, and major changes to student aid and education so we can provide serious incentives to get back to school and get back to work. We are basically providing a guarantee to all our young people from 18 to 21 that if they want to improve themselves, if they want to go to work, if they want to change their skills, the federal government is there to help. Those are the kinds of things we are working on.
Mr. Speaker, you have been very kind in allowing me to speak this full period of time. I hope that what we have been able to convey to members of this House and to Canadians listening that the need for a new employment strategy is paramount. The foundations were laid in the budget of our finance minister, but we have a lot of work to do yet.
We have enormous work to do in this Parliament in coming together to put forward ideas, to provide a forum for Canadians to come together and present their solutions. We have an enormous amount of work to do in working in our own communities to change the attitudes of business and labour and community groups to begin seeing that employment is the major priority. We have a lot of work to do ourselves, to begin to understand that we can no longer separate or rely on the old habits and old ways of thinking.
If we do it right, if we are able to mobilize ourselves into this new world of work, to face the new realities that we all have to experience, then I believe that at the end of this Parliament we will be able to say to Canadians we have done well by helping them to get back to work.
That is our purpose and our mission.