Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for Bonaventure-Îles-de-la-Madeleine.
When we debate in the House we often think about what the real people with real problems and real challenges are thinking as they see us exchange points of view. I wonder today what the unemployed Quebecer in Chicoutimi, Laval or Trois-Rivières would think about the motion brought forward by the hon. member for Mercier and the Bloc Quebecois.
What would the single mother think as she struggles to hold down two part time jobs, scared to death that her family will end up on the street? What would the older worker think who sees his job disappearing while all the new jobs required better skills? What would the small business owner think who wants to create jobs and hire new workers but cannot afford to compete with the UI economy? What would the young student think as she prepares to leave school and sees her older friends already collecting unemployment insurance for the third, fourth or fifth time at a very young age?
These people are looking for a decent chance at a good job with a good income. Instead the Bloc Quebecois has unfortunately resorted to this motion, a motion I believe has nothing to do with reality. It has nothing to do with the real challenges real people face in Quebec and outside of Quebec or with the real thrust of the employment insurance bill.
Instead, unfortunately the Bloc Quebecois wants to pick a fight. It wants to pick a fight where there is really nothing to fight about. Is the Bloc truly concerned about provincial jurisdiction over training? Perhaps it should listen to the Prime Minister, to the minister who wrote this bill. Bloc members must read the bill itself.
The federal government is saying loudly and clearly that we will do nothing in this area without the express consent of the provinces. We will get out of any activities that might be seen as interfering with provincial responsibilities.
Is the Bloc truly concerned about overlap and duplication? Then listen to what we are saying. We are saying loudly and clearly to the provinces: If you want to deliver the employment benefits under this new system, we can live with that. If you have your own programs that do the same thing, let us use your programs. If you want to find better ways to co-ordinate programs and get rid of overlap and duplication, then let us do it.
The minister has extended an open hand to Quebec, to all provinces by saying let us build a new and better partnership. Quebec was the very first province to respond and the response was yes, let us talk. The Quebec National Assembly passed a motion to enter into talks with the federal government on the very same day the legislation was tabled.
It is time that members of the Bloc Quebecois realized that time and reality have passed them by. Quite simply, the motion they have brought forward is out of date. It was made obsolete by the very bill they are trying to condemn. Let us stop. Canadians, whether they live in Quebec or outside Quebec, are tired of what really are imaginary battles.
What Canadians want us to do as responsible members of this Chamber is to get down and do the job that needs to be done. They want us to create a climate where people feel secure, a climate where jobs are created, where people are given opportunities and are empowered to make the best decisions possible for them, for their community and indeed for their nation.
As a federal member of Parliament, as a member of the Canadian government, I know we have made every effort possible to reach out to the provinces in the spirit of co-operation and goodwill. We have extended our hand to anyone who wants to sit down, to get together in a very meaningful partnership and implement the changes people are asking for.
I respect the hon. member for Lévis as a very hard working member of the human resources development committee. Of course, I do not share his point of view in reference to the issue of separation and many others. Now is not the time to throw up our arms; it is a time to roll up our sleeves.
There are people out there who depend on legislators to bring about positive change to their lives. It is for this reason that I get up in this House convinced that the employment insurance bill the government tabled is a very good bill. It is worth supporting and takes into consideration the very sensitivities that the Bloc Quebecois, the Reform Party and Canadians in general have brought forward during the debate on social security review.
What are we trying to achieve with the employment insurance bill? The employment insurance bill recognizes two fundamental things. One is that people during time of unemployment require income security. It is provided in the bill. It also recognizes the fact that there is a different economy out there. Long term unemployment since 1976 has tripled which speaks to the structural changes of unemployment.
People are staying unemployed for a longer period of time. Why is that? Because they do not have the skills required to get the new jobs. We need to have an active measure introduced which is referred to as a human resources investment fund.
The $800 million human resources investment fund has five tools which include a target income supplement, wage top-ups, skills and loans grants. There are job partnerships and self-employment assistance which has been working extremely well. There have been 68,000 jobs already created. We have lowered premiums to generate job creation which benefits not only small business but also individual Canadians. We have reduced the maximum insurable earnings which again reduces the premiums.
We have taken all those steps because we believe that the system needs changing. We are doing this also with a great deal of fairness.
Low income families will be able to get up to 80 per cent of their average earnings. The 500,000 people who were excluded from unemployment insurance are brought into the system. UI exhaustees who were shut out of the past system are now brought in if they have had an attachment to unemployment insurance in the past three years. Anyone who was receiving parental benefits over the past five years will be able to access one of the re-employment tools which means they will be given opportunities for re-employment.
Above all, we are not only modernizing the employment insurance system, but the net result of these measures through the various measures including a $300 million transition job fund will be the creation of over 100,000 new jobs for Canadians. We are doing this for the people of Canada who throughout the hearings told us that they wanted a system that would help Canadians get jobs, keep their jobs, a system that would help the most vulnerable and do it in a sustainable fashion. They too understood that the program as it is today could not be sustained when in 10 years it has gone from $8 billion to $20 billion.