Mr. Speaker, as I was saying earlier, like the other components of the strategy, the emphasis is on pragmatic, meaningful measures to target the real needs of those affected by change and the needs of the region as a whole at a time of unprecedented transition.
The Atlantic groundfish strategy is, in fact, the opposite of the band-aid approach that has characterized the previous responses to the economic crisis in Atlantic Canada. The strategy represents instead a long term investment in communities deeply affected by circumstances beyond their control.
It is also an investment in people, including those older workers who have invested and contributed so much for so long to the groundfish industry.
As members are aware, the Atlantic groundfish strategy has two primary objectives, to re-establish a rationalized, restructured fishery, and to serve as a catalyst for diversified economic growth outside the fishery.
As such, the strategy offers a wide range of programs and options specifically tailored to individual career and employment requirements.
These options include training activities such as literacy training, community based adult basic education, university study programs and entrepreneurial training.
Green projects that connect environment enhancement with meaningful skill development in an emerging industry.
Employment incentives to encourage participants to find and accept jobs.
Self-employment assistance to stimulate business start-ups outside the traditional fishery and support entrepreneurship training.
A community opportunities pool allowing individuals to develop and contribute to community based projects and initiatives where they live.
Portable wage subsidies to allow non-fishery employers to hire people and provide on the job training.
Mobility assistance to provide relocation support for those who wish to find work outside their community.
Several adjustment programs for youth and of course older workers.
I now want to address more specifically Bill C-30, the proposed amendment to the Department of Labour Act. It is crucial to note that when we refer to older workers in the east coast fishery we are talking about those from 55 to 64 years of age. The Department of Labour Act already has the authority to make assistance payments to former employees between the ages of 55 and 64.
However, an amendment to the act is needed to include fish plant workers who will reach 55 within their Atlantic groundfish strategy eligibility period.
It is this amendment, Bill C-30, and the compassionate and pragmatic reasons supporting it that I wish to recommend to the House today.
The strategy was developed with input from all those affected by the change: the provinces, business, industry, unions, communities and, most important, those whose lives and livelihoods were so closely tied to a diminishing resource. Some of them will be part of a streamlined future fishery. Others will take up new opportunities in new fields.
However, for many fish plant older workers there is the real possibility of falling between the cracks at a critical time in their lives. That is why the Atlantic groundfish strategy includes special considerations for their circumstances.
The fact is that because of their long term commitment to the fisheries many older workers have no realistic prospect of finding other work or learning and applying the new skills that a fast changing marketplace demands.
Although they are free to opt for the active training measures available under the Atlantic groundfish strategy, their background could limit the benefits to be gained from the participation in the strategy options and in the long run their chances of finding employment outside the fishery.
In the public hearings of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans many plant workers acknowledged this reality and asked about the possibility of establishing early retirement provisions starting at age 50.
This essentially is what the fish plant older worker adjustment program and the related amendment to the Department of Labour Act proposed; a realistic, compassionate, income maintenance option for these workers who have given so much for so long.
Under this program eligible fish plant workers who are between 50 years of age and 64 as of this May 15 may receive income supplement payments.
The program would be administered jointly by human resources development and participating provinces that enter into agreements. The cost would be shared on a 70 per cent federal and 30 per cent provincial basis. Eligible workers will have 90 days after they are informed of their eligibility to opt from the fish plant older worker adjustment program. They will then receive income support until they reach the age of 65.
Income assistance payments will be calculated on the basis of 70 per cent NCARP unemployment insurance benefits averaged over the three best years of 1988 to 1993 with a monthly maximum of $1,000. Until these benefits begin fish plant older workers entitled to TAGS will receive income support equivalent to their three year average UI NCARP rate less 6 per cent. The older worker adjustment program will be cost shared with the federal funding set at 70 per cent and participating provinces paying the remaining 30 per cent.
For older fish plant workers the maximum cost of this program to the federal government will be about $60 million. We believe that 1,200 older fish plant workers in Quebec and the Atlantic region will participate in this program. About 75 per cent of those workers are in Newfoundland, 15 per cent in Nova Scotia and the rest in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Quebec.
Let me stress that participation in this program is voluntary. Fish plant older workers who want to benefit from the strategies, training and career planning initiatives can do so. The concept presented under the fish plant older worker adjustment program is one that our provincial partners and those personally affected recognize as having specific merit and relevance.
In the past and under previous governments of all stripes older worker readjustment policies rarely refer to early retirement because it was thought to perhaps encourage voluntary layoffs and create pressures for a universal and expensive rush to early retirement. However because of significant changes in social values and work patterns in recent years and yes, in the economy, more people are choosing to retire before they reach 65 years of age.
There can be no doubt that early retirement is an emerging human resources issue seen variously as a source to reduce unemployment, as a useful tool in industry restructuring or as a viable bridge to new lifestyle options. However we do not use the word voluntary for this program since fish plant older workers affected by the Atlantic groundfish crisis have not voluntarily chosen to leave their jobs. The fish plant older worker adjustment program addresses the fact that these workers were forced out of the labour force.
Precedents exist for the kind of initiative we are proposing today, for example, in Atlantic Canada. There is a plant worker adjustment program which already applies to workers aged between 50 and 64 years. The program assists older fish plant workers laid off as a result of fish stock declines in Atlantic Canada. It is now being terminated as it applies only to layoffs which occurred until December 31, 1993.
Other examples of income support programs for laid off older workers exist, including the northern cod early retirement program and the program for older worker adjustment. The northern cod early retirement program applies however to workers aged between 55 and 64. This program was created in 1992 to encourage a permanent reduction in the numbers of fishermen and plant workers laid off because of depletion of the cod fishery.
There is also a program named program for older workers adjustment, POWA, which applies to workers aged 55 to 64 who were affected by major involuntary layoffs from all industrial sectors across Canada. The fish plant older worker adjustment program is a logical application of these initiatives. It is also a necessary response to a unique and urgent set of circumstances.
I spoke briefly about the kind of contribution fishers and plant workers made to the economic life of their communities. Now I want to say a few words about the way of life that their work supported and carried forward through the generations.
Many if not most of the people who need help now live in small communities where people count on one another in a very unique way. Their communities were sustained by a fishery resource that is no longer available to them. The real resource is the people and the people are still there.
The future is theirs to create, but we cannot ignore the present needs. The skills of the past may not be in demand but the courage, the resourcefulness and the determination of the people are still there. This program recognizes how important it is for the individuals involved to maintain self-sufficiency and dignity in the face of unprecedented adjustment and change in their livelihood and way of life.
As such, the government sees the proposed amendment to the Department of Labour Act as essential to fully recognizing the past contributions and future needs of these older workers. We have drawn on the knowledge and experience of many groups and individuals to produce this legislation and this strategy.
It is realistic. It is definitely comprehensive. It reflects the principles and beliefs of this government so it is a fair and compassionate approach. It is designed to meet the kind of emergency which Canadians have not faced since the days of the Great Depression so it is innovative and effective.
This strategy and its programs are based on sound research and wide ranging open discussions with the people who are working to meet this challenge. Those who looked at the report submitted by the task force on incomes and adjustment in the Atlantic fishery, commonly known as the Cashin report, know that serious people examined the situation and came up with some realistic ideas.
The strategy is the product of two months of consultation with fishery workers and their associations and unions as well as representatives from fishing communities and from the processing industry. We have had the benefit of speaking with officials from both federal and provincial departments with responsibilities in this area.
The measures we have brought together under the Atlantic groundfish strategy reflect that consultation. Premier Clyde Wells of Newfoundland is one of the provincial leaders who contributed to the development of this strategy and he welcomed the measures it proposed.
In addition, the fisheries minister of that province, Walter Carter, called it a reasonable package and in Nova Scotia fisheries minister Jim Barkhouse said he was pleased with the strategy. Union leaders have welcomed the approach the government has taken both in helping people and in planning the future of the fish resource.
In the red book and in the speech from the throne, the government clearly spelled out a commitment to fairness and compassion in introducing fishery adjustment measures. We reinforced this commitment a month ago in St. John's. Common sense and common decency demand that the pragmatic positive implications of this amendment receive speedy and unanimous endorsement from all members.