Mr. Speaker, the federal government is very concerned with poverty among Canadian children. Of particular concern are the six out of ten lone-parent families headed by women who live in low-income situations.
The best security for children is for their parents to have jobs. Consequently, the government is working diligently to establish conditions that create full-time employment. As a result of these efforts, women now occupy more than half of the 505,000 new full-time jobs that have been created across Canada since October 1993, as well as the 142,000 jobs created in Quebec.
For those who have not yet found employment we have introduced a higher benefit rate for unemployed poor families. This benefit rate is now providing up to $1,000 more in benefits for these UI claims. As of July 1995 over 383,000 Canadians have benefited from the 60 per cent benefit rate, including nearly 300,000 women. In Quebec over 110,000 claimants have received the 60 per cent benefit rate, including over 85,000 women.
The government intends to present shortly a new program of employment insurance, which will better help unemployed Canadians find jobs. As the Prime Minister stated in a speech on November 1, "We have to change the focus because we want to give a dependable security for the people who are raising families on low incomes".
Beyond these changes the Department of Human Resources Development has launched a series of strategic initiatives with provincial and territorial governments. In Quebec the federal government is supporting a major initiative to help over 25,000 parents make the transition from social assistance to work. Federal support of up to $54 million will be provided for the wage supplementation program in the next four years.
In the member's own riding of Quebec there are several human resources development projects under way involving approximately 400 women, which are aimed at helping them overcome the difficulties in order to enter the labour force.
The federal government continues to take serious and concrete actions to improve the well-being of Canada's children. Through reform of social programs at both the federal and provincial levels more can be done to tackle the serious issue of child poverty.