Mr. Speaker, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to Bill C-17 and especially to the UI provisions on which my party has put forward a few amendments that are, I think, in the interest of Canadians.
I do not want to repeat the arguments made since this debate started but I would still like to express my opinion on the use of public funds to create jobs. Of course, whenever we talk about unemployment, we also talk about job creation.
Every member of this House can now find out in his or her riding the true extent of the infrastructure program announced by this government, which will turn into a disaster in coming days when municipalities will have to present their ratepayers with borrowing by-laws in order to have access to the infrastructure program. Let us look at what is now happening in our ridings. Many of these projects will not be accepted because municipalities are already deeply in debt.
We said at the time that it was another way for the Liberal government to offload money it does not have onto provincial, then municipal governments. In recent weeks, I also analyzed what was being said and mostly listened to groups of young people between 18 and 30 years of age that I would divide into three categories: those who have jobs, young poorly-paid workers without contracts but who still manage to get by on their salaries for one, two or three years.
These workers still manage to get by. However, when their contracts expire, they will fall into another category, that of workers whose status is precarious and that is where it starts.
That is where it starts and when unemployment insurance comes into play. For workers whose status is insecure, there are only projects, jobs created under DEP or the Challenge program or something like that, which under this bill would give these workers lower benefits, because the rate is lower, after they had accumulated a certain number of weeks of unemployment insurance credits.
If you are lucky in that game and are back on UI, perhaps you will be lucky again and find another project, but there will be no third project. At that point, the insecure worker falls into the unemployed category and that is my main point.
We have nothing to offer our jobless young people who are 18 to 30 years old; we are losing that whole generation because we have nothing for them. We are taking away their dignity and forcing them for a few hundred dollars a month to take compulsory courses in school again, which will be no use in the end, since the training they will be given does not prepare them for the jobs now vacant.
You can be sure that young people in that situation-because I know, I worked with them for over thirty years-develop a certain fatalistic attitude which often makes them drink more alcohol and also take more drugs; not having anything to do, they find something to occupy their time.
The suicide rate is very high. Not a day goes by that we do not see lack of work as the main cause of suicide among young people aged 18 to 30. Of course they cannot afford to borrow, but sometimes they have to and the interest rates they pay are abnormally high. So they are caught in a trap from which they will have difficulty escaping.
We devalue them. These people are socially devalued. We are creating instability for a whole generation. If they are lucky, they move in coop or low-cost housing units which, when not supervised or when provincial governments make budget cuts, often look like poverty ghettos. This is where our 18 to 30-year- olds live.
They also share dwellings, which is not a healthy solution. If they are lucky and do not belong to a single parent family, they will go back to their parents' home, which is often the only solution for many of them. This what you are creating by not being able to come up with projects which will put people to work and give them back their dignity. The stress and anxiety related to the fear of not being able to find a job is very real for these young people.
I also want to discuss the third amendment proposed by my colleague regarding the approval of the House of Commons given by resolution of that House, instead of the approval of the Governor in Council. The Bloc Quebecois is not opposed to pilot projects. This is important and I think it gives satisfaction to the hon. member for St. Boniface. Again, we are not opposed to pilot projects. In fact, we supported the one related to Operation Dignity II.
We cannot oppose, and that is showing a constructive approach, the implementation of new ideas. However, we want the ministers, even though they are subjected to ministerial accountability, to allow this House to review, examine, evaluate and monitor each pilot project, since Parliament is the centre of democracy and since elected representatives are accountable.
They must ensure government transparency, so that they are not stuck with a fait accompli, as in the case of Pearson Airport and all the dealings that went on with lobbyists. Once a debate has taken place on a pilot project, the ministers are in a position to evaluate the pros and cons. This enables them, and us as well, to make better decisions. Then, the same information can be transmitted to every Canadian.
It is in this spirit that I will support the three proposed amendments.