Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On March 25, I asked the Minister of Finance the following question, after reminding him that we had just learned that for the next two years, unemployment insurance cuts would amount to $630 million a year in the maritimes, and $535 million in Quebec. We do not know what they will be this year, and it appears that Employment and Immigration does not know either.
My question was: Is the Minister of Finance prepared to defer cutbacks in the unemployment insurance system at least long enough to put in place a real job creation strategy to help the jobless find work instead of forcing them onto welfare? Six hundred and thirty million dollars a year in Atlantic Canada and $535 million in Quebec, and I am not mentioning cuts in Ontario and western Canada because cuts in Quebec and the maritimes represent 60 per cent of the total whereas they only have 33 per cent of the Canadian population.
Such cuts will have a devastating impact on the economy and yet, the government went ahead and announced these cuts without further consideration. That is why I am asking today if it is prepared to defer its decision at least long enough for these cuts to be preceded by a real job creation program. I will keep on asking the same question as long as Bill C-17 has not been passed, hoping that the minister will change his mind.
In the words of Alain Dubuc, a La Presse columnist with whom the Official Opposition does not always agree, ``Finance Minister Axworthy is mistaken, because the cuts can be found in the budget. He is cutting before helping people''. Not only is he going ahead with the cuts, he is targeting the regions which will be deprived of substantial sums of money. This money, when awarded, usually goes to pay rent, buy food and pay for goods which are not only essential to people's survival but also help keep the local economy humming.
Therefore, before depriving these regions whose industries have already been hard hit from a structural standpoint, why does the minister not postpone his decision so that a true program can be implemented, one that will restore hope. Hope is what the people want, but instead, the government has fostered a climate of despair.