Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to direct my remarks to such a distinguished resident of the central office of the House.
First let me apologize to the hon. member if I misinterpreted his earlier comments about the Constitution. His clarification is certainly reasonable. It will fully restore my respect for his constitutional knowledge and judgment.
Let me get to the central point which is the question the hon. member raised. The reality is that we have clearly said that all choices and decisions about the nature of education and training will be made by provincial governments. We are withdrawing from the course purchases which have been the standard pattern over the past few years where federal bureaucrats would sit down with their counterparts and decide which courses would be available to clients. It will be purely a provincial choice.
We are withdrawing from apprenticeship training, co-op education and a number of other measures because we believe that the fundamental questions of curriculum, supply, institutions, course, faculty, all the things that make up the basic training and education are provincial choices, purely within their jurisdiction.
We are also prepared to go one step further and say there are other programs, not training, but which are directly related to employment and if a provincial government is able, wants to, is prepared to and has the mechanisms to decide how to make them available, that is fine. All I have to make sure is the person who is the insuree, who puts the money into the pot, is able to get the benefit back. That is the test and a requirement under the act, under the Constitution as the trustee for that insurance program.
The design, system of delivery and the nature of how training takes places are clearly and simply provincial responsibilities. It is important to recognize it cannot take place through a simple block transfer. As we have learned in the past, a block transfer with provinces does not end up in the programs it is intended for.
Quebec has been one of the better provinces in ensuring transfers for education and health end up in those programs. There are a lot of provinces in which a lot of roads have been built with money that was supposed to go to universities and a lot of provincial public buildings built with money supposed to go into the health care system.
As a result we have to ensure that when my colleague pays into the program she has a right to expect a benefit in return. That is all. We are saying we are substantially simplifying those benefits. We are basically saying that the 39 programs my department would run are being taken down to five measures. Those are not even programs, they are simply a tool. The provinces will be able to design that tool.
I use the example of the SPRINT program in Quebec which I think is a good program, a system to get people back to work. If Quebec is prepared to make that available to clients in the employment insurance program, let us do it and get them back to work. Those are the kinds of discussion I want to have.
I can assure the hon. member that we will discuss in good faith. We have invited the provincial ministers to meet with us and I am looking forward to that because I think there is a chance for a new, fresh, innovative dialogue with the provinces on this very crucial issue.