Mr. Speaker, the hon. member's speech has given me further incentive to voice my objections to the vote in the amount of $1,329,481,000 under Employment Insurance Program, money that is part of the Human Resources Investment Fund, since the hon. member just said that these estimates were the result of a program review by the federal government and concluded that they represented the most effective use of these moneys for all Canadians.
It would be appropriate to say at this point that, on all these policies for manpower and employment development, embodied in the estimates before the House today, in Quebec at least there is a consensus. The people of Quebec, through its representatives, wants these policies to be the responsibility of Quebec.
When we held our hearings on social programs reform, we heard the Association des manufacturiers du Québec-this was in December 1994-say the following in its presentation: "Such measures mainly involve vocational training programs, apprenticeship programs, direct job creation programs and work force adjustment programs". The Association des manufacturiers du Québec made it clear that these proactive measures should be the responsibility of the provincial government, in their comments on patriating federal budgets for manpower development to Quebec.
The labour unions were just as emphatic. They said that by initiating this debate on social programs reform, the government confirmed their apprehensions about the constitutional aspect, in other words, the present team in Ottawa was led by a consuming desire to make Canada a strongly centralized country. This objective, which was apparent throughout Minister Axworthy's Green Paper, was diametrically opposed to the reigning consensus in Quebec and, contrary to the designs of the federal government, members of the CEQ, the CSN and the FTQ firmly believed that only full and complete recovery by the Government of Quebec of control over all economic, social and cultural instruments would create an environment that was conducive to developing the full potential of Quebec society.
After these comments by the Association des manufacturiers du Québec and the labour unions, I need hardly recall that this abiding desire to control manpower training and, even more so, job development and job readiness training, has been manifest throughout Quebec's history. When the minister tells us that these estimates are the best expression of the effectiveness of the decisions that Ottawa can make, I would like to say, with respect, that as far as Quebec is concerned, he is wrong.
The G-7 summit, soon to convene in Halifax, confirms the apprehensions of Quebec about the central government's desire for further centralization.