Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to speak to these motions and respond to the critic of the Bloc Quebecois.
I am very pleased to see such a large audience here today. Sometimes we see the ironies of Canadian politics first hand. It gives us an opportunity to understand, and I do wish the member has the opportunity to listen to me here. Here is a man standing up right now who has been one of the great supporters of the UI program. What is the UI program?
The UI program is one of the greatest contributors to national unity we have ever had. It does not matter what part of the country you live in. We have made rules; we have made exceptions; and we have reached out to make sure that no matter what economy you are in or what part of the country you live in, you have an opportunity to participate in UI.
There is a party whose sole purpose is to come here and destroy our country, but what does it do? It ends up defending a program that benefits all Canadians. This is the hypocrisy which drives the government crazy. Yes, this is a very important program and, yes, people in Atlantic Canada deserve to be protected and deserve to be supported. These members have to realize that this is a national program which requires national participation. No program in the last 50 years has contributed more to the needy regions of our country than this legislation.
Part of the difficulty with the opposition is it repeats day by day misrepresentations of what happens in committees, which allows people to think what it says is really the truth.
Let me clarify the record of what happened in committee. When we began hearings there was not one particular group which had expressed an interest in talking on the bill. We had an agreement from this party that we would allow a week to see if groups came forward.
Suddenly, to use a colloquialism, to hot dog it for the press, they said: "we are cutting off the debate" when they had made an agreement that a week was sufficient. Suddenly the press shows up and the line changes in the cheapest of all forms of politics.
Second, several weeks were set aside for people to come forward. Not one group that asked to come forward has not been heard on the bill. There has not been one group that has not been spoken to and asked questions of.
The government has reached out to make sure that its program is understood and that when groups come forward, whether they are from the Gaspé or from Atlantic Canada or a group from downtown Toronto, which had really good ideas to reform and to improve on the system, they are responded to.
The government has been very proud of the way it approached a very complicated bill such as this and the way it set out hearings and gave an opportunity for everyone to speak who wished to speak on the bill.