Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to rise on such an important occasion to speak about unemployment insurance.
I recently spent two weeks in my riding. People are concerned about the high cost of unemployment insurance to Canada, not only to employees and employers but to the taxpayer. They are concerned about abuse of the system. I have seen some of that abuse firsthand.
Abuse of the UI system results in higher costs for employees, employers and our entire tax system. It results in higher costs of goods and services. Removing the safeguard that is in place regarding spouses paying each other has the potential for a tremendous abuse problem in the future. I see it rising very greatly if we remove this safeguard.
I recognize that if spouses are not allowed to collect benefits on an arm's length transaction they should not be expected to pay premiums either. We do have a problem here that needs to be addressed but let us address it directly and not try to do an end run on the problem. There are other people who have to pay premiums. Although I am a farmer I worked off the farm for some time. I had to pay premiums and never could collect. That needs to be addressed.
If spouses are not allowed to collect because they do not qualify under the arm's length test, let us introduce a bill to deal directly with the problem. This discriminatory practice should not be continued.
The government has promised to bring in a review of the entire unemployment insurance program. It is a welcome review, one for which the people of Canada have been waiting for a long time. Let us listen to what Canadians have to say in these hearings on this issue as well as others. I believe they are going to be telling us that they want to stop abuse of the system.
We have young people in Canada who have never seen either parent bring home a pay cheque or hold a real job other than one through unemployment insurance. I say that is a tragedy. A program that was started with very good intentions, to provide help for people in time of temporary crisis, has become a way of life for a lot of people. We see it continuing from generation to generation.
This practice has to be stopped not just for the taxpayers but for those very young people who are going to fall into that same cycle. It is not conducive to good self-worth and the sooner we end that practice, the better. I am concerned that by removing the safeguard that has been put in place to stop abuse in the case of spouses employing each other will just add to that further abuse. Therefore, I cannot support this bill. I encourage members in this House to vote it down. A new bill should be
introduced to deal with the problem where spouses have to pay premiums when they are not allowed to collect.
I believe there is good intent here but it is misdirected. I certainly do not want to encourage any more abuse of our unemployment insurance system than we have now. Let us have a good thorough airing of this problem and the hearings that are going to be conducted throughout the country through the unemployment insurance review. I suggest we wait for that to happen.