Mr. Speaker, this late show question refers to a question I put to the Minister of Human Resources Development on Bill C-96, which seeks to give the federal government full control over manpower training.
My question was asked before the referendum. Now that the results are known, I can say that bringing up that question again at this time will give us rather clear indications as to the real desire for change that exists in the federal government, if it agrees to withdraw Bill C-96 or to amend it in such a way that the provinces will have full jurisdiction over manpower training.
This is an opportunity for the federal government to proceed with a meaningful decentralization and to delegate jurisdiction over manpower training. We are frequently asked why both levels of government are so stubbornly determined to keep their involvement in that area. The answer is that one of the two governments, the Government of Quebec, and the governments of all other provinces for that matter, has jurisdiction over education, and that education has a direct impact on manpower, because it includes not only primary, high school and college level education, but also the training of people who are coming back or want to come back on the labour market and want to get better training.
The other level of government got involved in the area of education by using its spending power and misusing, I would say, the unemployment insurance fund. This year, for example, a $5 billion surplus was created in the fund, and the department wants to use that money to meddle in manpower training.
This is a real life situation where useless duplication between governments is very expensive for Quebecers and Canadians and programs that are set up are not always effective. The purpose of
our representations is to ask the minister if he could withdraw Bill C-96 or find a way to give to those provinces who want it complete control over manpower.
This is not only a matter of administrative agreements. Such agreements were offered in the past, notably to the previous Quebec Liberal government which, although a federalist government, turned them down, since, without full delegation, it would be difficult for the Quebec government to take on such a responsibility.
This will have an impact on several areas of activity. In taking action, the Quebec government must be able to take into account the impact on social assistance and on other aspects of training, for instance, and, thus, draw up an action plan for several years to come.
If the delegation is only good for three or five years or is not complete, the Quebec government will not be able to ensure the success of its actions. This is why it is hoped that the federal government will agree to delegate the whole area of manpower to Quebec, in compliance with the request made as a result of the consensus reached by the unions, the Conseil du patronat, as well as by all of the political parties in Quebec. Therefore, in these times when the federal government is again promising us change, will it show at last a real willingness to do so?