Mr. Speaker, like all my colleagues, I am here today to speak to Bill C-17. For the benefit of those listening, I would like to recall the purpose of the bill before the House today. Bill C-17 is what is commonly referred to as an omnibus bill, a kind of catch-all that contains measures affecting a number of different acts and programs. It is a mixed bag of provisions, the only connection between them being that they are intended to implement proposals contained in the budget brought down on February 22, 1994.
Of course when we talk about the budget, we talk about money and when we talk about money, we can talk about so many things, which is also the case today. Again, for the benefit of our listeners, this bill contains amendments to the Public Sector Compensation Act, the Governor General's Act, the Judges Act, the Parliament of Canada Act, the Salaries Act, the Canada Assistance Plan, the Public Utilities Income Tax Transfer Act, the Atlantic Region Freight Assistance Act, the Western Grain Transportation Act, the Broadcasting Act and the Unemployment Insurance Act.
Mr. Speaker, as you can see, a large number of acts and programs are affected by this so-called omnibus bill. Our listeners will probably have noticed that, in their presentations, members have approached these subjects in various ways.
Today, I intend to discuss the Unemployment Insurance Act. There are eight measures in the bill that will affect this legislation. However, it has been two years since in Quebec, the Société québécoise de développement de la main-d'oeuvre has been prepared to take full responsibility for manpower, and unemployment insurance is one aspect of this sector.
Unfortunately, like the Conservative government, the Liberal government has yet to act on the requests made by the Government of Quebec and, instead, is proposing new measures that have made it incumbent on us in the Bloc québécois to try to make the best of a bad situation, in other words, to take the measures and make the necessary changes that would prevent them from having a negative impact.
For instance, I would like to draw your attention to clause 22 in Bill C-17 which deals with the difference in rates of benefit for a claimant without dependants and for a claimant with dependants.
We know that in the case of claimants without dependants, the bill proposes a rate of benefit that is 55 per cent of insurable earnings, while in the case of claimants with dependants, the rate is 60 per cent. The intent of the bill is commendable because it goes without saying that claimants with dependants do indeed have additional financial requirements.
Our concern stems from the fact that there is no clear indication in the bill before us on whom the burden rests to prove that the claimant does or does not have any dependants. We are concerned that, as the bill is now worded, the burden of proof rests with the claimant. My colleague who spoke earlier alluded very clearly to this point. If this is in fact the case, the bill creates problems for claimants who will be required to prove that they do indeed have dependants and who will experience an additional delay in receiving their benefits, not to mention all of the bureaucratic frustrations this process is likely to entail.
For this reason, the Bloc Quebecois proposed an amendment which reads as follows:
For purposes of paragraph (1)( b ), a claimant needs only to establish a prima facie entitlement.
All the claimant would be required to do is acknowledge or confirm that he or she does in fact have dependants. The rate of weekly benefit provided under that paragraph would thus apply. The burden would rest squarely with the Commission to prove that the claimant was not entitled to this rate of benefit. In my view, this amendment would protect in the best possible way the interests of the public and, in particular, of those individuals who do have dependants and who would thus need to do nothing more than simply say so.
When people file their income tax returns, they state certain facts. The Department of Revenue takes it for granted that the facts are correctly stated, and the onus is on it to prove otherwise.
Moreover, most single parent families-and it is a fact of life, one that I am not passing judgement on-are headed by women. And if the present wording of the clause in the bill is maintained, it is a good bet that some of these single parents, most of whom are women, will have to prove their entitlement by travelling, losing time from work or time to be with their children, to go to the commission and show that they have dependent children.
I think that it is adding insult to injury by again giving single parents more work to do.
Therefore, the purpose of the Bloc's amendment is to remove the burden of proof from the claimants and also to avoid-unfortunately, such things have already happened-setting up welfare police to investigate in the neighbourhood of these claimants who say they have dependants and to verify the accuracy of their statements, an approach that I find inappropriate, to say the least, in a civilized society like ours.
We admit that controls are required, but we say that care must be taken in the way that they are exercised. In this context, we believe that it is not only right but necessary for the burden of proof to be on the commission so that people will not have to worry and fret in order to prove their good faith; the good faith of everyone concerned should be assumed.
As I mentioned earlier, unfortunately those who can benefit from such a measure are usually those with the lowest salaries and, quite often, these job categories are in direct relation with the educational level. This is not merely a point of view: it is a statistical fact.
These less educated recipients do not always know what to do to protect their interests or have access to certain remedies. They are not always able to express themselves easily and defend their position.
Should these people, who are already less privileged by society, have to shoulder an additional burden?
Finally, as I also mentioned, women responsible for single parent families have neither the time nor the means to take care of an injustice done to them. Yet, they have to do it to get the 60 per cent to which they are entitled, or else they will only receive 55 per cent of their insurable earnings. This gap will create enormous problems, particularly for these people who, generally, can barely afford to pay for their rent and food. Yet, they are asked to take on a responsibility which the commission would be in a much better position to assume.
In conclusion, I ask the House to approve this amendment, since it would not affect in any way the increase provided for recipients with dependents, but would give to the implementation of this clause a human dimension which would take into account, among other things, the plight of single parent families, and which would ensure that a good decision is taken in the appropriate manner.