Mr. Speaker, I will start off by congratulating the hon. member for Bonaventure-Îles-de-la-Madeleine. He is very involved in the regional development of his riding. He often wears his work shirt to show that he knows what work is all about. And work can also be profitable.
However, I want to ask my distinguished colleague, who cannot seem to stop bragging about his new budget, how come in his riding, and especially in the Magdalen Islands, more than 10 per cent of the overall population rallied to protest against the tough UI reform. Every federal measure taken these days seems to go after the seasonal unemployed, numerous in his riding and in mine as well. In other words, the government is mostly picking on women and young Canadians.
Does this budget mention anything about tax shelters and tax avoidance? Not once. The Aucoins, from the Magdalen Islands, whom I had the pleasure to talk to again yesterday, as well as the Delaneys and Mr. Dalhousie are not very proud of their member of Parliament. A letter published in the op-ed page of L'écho du Nord and Le Radar harshly criticized not so much the hon. member, but rather the federal government which is hardly visible in the regions. It is as if the federal government only cares about the larger urban areas, while the smaller towns and communities in the member's riding are being hard hit.
The hon. member for Îles-de-la-Madeleine knows something about the predicament the seasonal workers and frequent users are now in. No wonder the deficit has been reduced, with the $5.6 billion the government is taking from the UI fund. A strange thing to do. While the big companies are not paying their fair share of the deficit and the taxes, the government goes after ordinary Canadians.
I think the hon. member for Îles-de-la-Madeleine should apologize to his voters. He should be ashamed. I think he will soon be invited to a meeting where he will have to explain the measures his government will take to water down the Axworthy reform, which has now become the Young reform.
How is he going to sweeten the pill for his voters? I would like to hear what the hon. member has to say about all of this.