Mr. Speaker, in the context of the adjournment proceedings, I would like to go back to a question that I asked the Minister of Human Resources Development in early March. It referred to the fact that the minister had acknowledged that the bill on unemployment insurance reform, known as employment insurance, would penalize several workers if thorough changes were not made.
Essentially, what we would like to know is what are the changes that the minister will put forward. The committee has now been sitting for a few days on the subject and the minister has given us very vague indications. On every occasion, on amendment proposals coming from the Liberal members, they were always talking about very cosmetic, very technical changes. These are minimum changes that do not go to the heart of the issue.
Essentially, the real question is this: Will the minister be able to change budgetary parameters? In the unemployment insurance reform, the government expects to use the surplus in the UI fund to compensate for the federal deficit. Even though the UI fund money is provided totally by workers and employers, the Liberal government expects to use the money that is in the surplus. It is $5 billion for this year alone. Yes, $5 billion.
Will the minister to able to do anything to ensure that the reform will be changed root and branch? Because the one that is presently on the table has been condemned everywhere, by all people involved in this reform.
Will the minister be able to do anything in the budgetary parameters? Will there be a strategy for regional economic diversification? It is one thing to try to put the burden of the unemployment issue on the unemployed, but seasonal workers do not want unemployment. These are people who are caught in a seasonal economy, an economy of regions that live on natural resources. They have the jobs that they can, and if they could have more, they would take them.
In the reform project, it would be important that the minister gives up this principle that is found in the documents saying that seasonal workers are lazy. That is essentially what is being said. In all testimonies, we have seen that does not reflect reality.
In conclusion, will the minister be able to come back to common sense? Will he use the fact that there was a change in ministers to thoroughly change the unemployment insurance reform, to put back on the table the main things that concern him and to ensure, once and for all, that there is a reform, but a reform that will really make it possible to fight unemployment and allow more people to get jobs?