Mr. Speaker, on Friday, the Minister of Human Resources Development finally unveiled his unemployment insurance reform, which will make it increasingly difficult for the unemployed to access the system. The reform provides that eligibility levels will be considerably higher and that those frequently out of work will be penalized, so that the first victims of these cuts will be young people, women and seasonal workers. The federal government is cutting $2 billion from the program.
Will the minister finally acknowledge that he waited so long to table his reform in order to avoid having Quebecers know before the referendum that they would get hit with two thirds of the UI cuts, that is, about $640 million?