Mr. Speaker, dear colleague, first I would like to say that the Bloc Quebecois has been asking again and again in this House for a reduction in the rate for unemployment insurance premiums. I would also like to say that our minority report suggested that initiatives other than the unemployment insurance program should not be paid for with the unemployment insurance funds. We have been asking that employers and workers be given greater control over these funds.
I must say, however, that we believe a number of measures, not all of them but some of them, will effectively help men and women who are temporarily out of work to find a job, by becoming more efficient or by developing new abilities. But we know, and have been saying so repeatedly, that job creation is of the utmost importance.
Having been a history teacher greatly interested in economic and social history, I would like to remind the hon. member that, even if at times there were no standards or regulations or unemployment insurance in the past, it does not mean that there was no unemployment, quite the contrary.
Also, there were periods when there were regulations and standards and when unemployment was lower. I will also remind the House, by the way, and I will conclude with this, that when the President of the United States tried to rally everybody during the Great Depression, he proposed standards, regulations, and salary increases for workers. Thanks to these measures and to the war, of course, there was an economic recovery.