Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Human Resources Development cannot even get a piece of legislation past his own cabinet colleagues.
Every day another article appears stating that the grand schemes proposed by the minister last year have been scrapped. His own discussion papers on unemployment insurance state that 26 per cent of UI claimants have filed four or more claims in the last five years. First he says this is a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and now he is saying it is not a problem and does not need to be addressed. The minister just cannot seem to make up his mind.
Today the minister is reported to have said that the social reform proposals have had to take a backseat to cutting the federal deficit. Reducing the number of repeat users of unemployment insurance would help cut the federal deficit, and still he will not implement the needed reforms.
If the minister cannot make the tough decisions, he should turn the administration of UI over to the workers and the employers who pay the premiums. The minister flails and fails again.