Yes, Mr. Speaker, we are going through difficult economic times. And that is why people with some economic imagination ought to know where the cuts should be made. They should not be made at the expense of the average citizen who is having enough trouble surviving as it is. There are many people having trouble keeping their heads above water. Unemployment insurance is supposed to be a life preserver. However, instead of helping people to survive-I am not saying the present system is perfect-the proposed reform is based on the wrong economic premise: it is anti-employment. It will generate insecurity and poverty.
As for those described as abusing the system, one thing must be said-and this is something we learned from the economists long ago-no system can be set up without this happening, unless considerable thought is given to the way it will be used. Those who do not abuse the system will, as we say, get it in the neck.
It is not surprising this measure was not revealed before the Quebec referendum. I would add, however, that workers in the Maritimes are also hit hard. I will say one thing, and I will repeat and repeat it: the approach of this government is to cut the number of workers in the labour market where jobs are not stable. It has nothing to do with the workers and everything to do with the labour market.
Instead of looking for the economic means to transform the labour market, the government is penalizing people, particularly those people who live in the Maritimes and Quebec. Quebec is being further penalized because it has a bigger population. The announced cuts of $640 million are added on to the $735 million in cuts to be made this year and next.
Even taking into account the supposed existing active measures, which will, under this program, this so-called reform, now come out of the unemployment insurance account, even here there are cuts of $400 million in addition to the $735 million. This means more than a billion dollars in cuts for Quebec, not to mention the billions also cut in the Atlantic provinces.
When the labour market fails to provide a job for everyone, people are not punished. What suffers is the economy and the development we are trying to work on.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, I will stop now, but I promise that, though I stop now, I will continue to talk about this reform and do everything I can to block it. It makes no sense for a country like Quebec and for a country like Canada.