Mr. Speaker, because of the difficult economic context of the past few years, most people must now question how long their jobs will last and how secure they are. Because of the economic context, even someone who has been in the same job for the last 10, 15 or 20 years can no longer be sure of how long he will be able to keep it.
Recent examples have shown how bad the situation is. The most recent one is the Kenworth plant, where workers whose jobs had seemed secure for many years suddenly learned the plant was closing. In this kind of context, people must be much more provident than before in preparing for what could almost be called the whims of fate. No one today knows whether they will be able to keep their jobs.
As a result, all the plans people were making to buy things like houses, trips or cars have become uncertain. People can no longer make long term plans because they feel insecure. In the old days, their relative job security allowed them to spend or at least to think: "If I ever lose my job because of economic conditions, I can still
count on unemployment insurance to keep me at the same income level for a certain time while I look for a new job".
People had much more confidence in the unemployment insurance system, which was then a true insurance policy. It was aimed at providing a degree of security for workers; it was a cushion protecting them against job loss. People could still afford to buy a house on the grounds that, if they lost their jobs and were without a salary for a few months, UI would make up the difference. With the help of lending institutions such as banks and credit unions, they could hope to pull through.
In the last two years in my riding office I have had the opportunity to meet with and talk to hundreds of people having problems with the UI system. The economic context being as I described earlier, more and more people have trouble seeing the UI system as a real insurance policy in case of job loss.
Not only did the unemployment insurance fund show a deficit during those years, but the administrative process became heavier and the claims system became more complicated to a point where people in need were not even sure if they would qualify for unemployment insurance.
Here are a few examples. First, let us look at people who have a business and who have a family, who have children. The first people they hire are their children, which is quite normal.
Let us suppose I own an asphalt paving company. You know that, in Canada, at least in Quebec and I think in most provinces, asphalt paving is a summer industry. It is rather difficult to pave streets, driveways, and so on, in the winter.
Let us suppose I own an asphalt paving company and I hire my two sons to work for me. They work all summer but, unfortunately, I have to tell them in November: "I no longer have work for you. There is no paving work done in driveways and in the streets because snow is coming. The government has stopped all highway construction work for the winter".
Therefore, I advise my sons, who paid unemployment insurance premiums during the whole period, to apply for UI benefits for the winter. But now people at the UI office question the validity of their claims. They think there is something fishy because they are the owner's sons. There were no questions asked when it came time to take the premiums, to deduct the premiums from their salary, but now when they come to claim benefits, there is a great concern over whether the owner's son was really in an employer-employee relationship or whether it was not more of a father-son relationship.
All the while the UI inspectors carry out their investigation, the kids have no income. They too, in turn, must deprive their own children of the necessities of life because when you have no income, the whole family suffers.
While UI is carrying out its investigation, these citizens who paid UI premiums do not receive benefits, until it is established beyond all doubt that they are indeed entitled to them, until it is established beyond all doubt that if these kids had not done the work, their father would have had to hire other people to do it.
This is the kind of thing that, in my opinion, is very unfair to people paying for a service. If there was a desire to improve things, instead of assuming from the outset that people were dishonest and taking advantage of a situation, why not trust them and assume from the outset that, in these cases, since their premiums were accepted, they will be considered eligible for unemployment insurance and receive the benefits claimed? If investigations are needed, let themm be done afterward; if false claims are discovered, people will be penalized accordingly. But taxpayers who have made contributions cannot be made to wait for months until an investigation is over.
That is the first example of how Bill C-12, as it stands, does not make unemployment insurance any better.
My second example involves availability, which we would have liked to have seen improved by Bill C-12. Someone on UI would often like to take training, so as to improve his chances in today's competitive atmosphere. His idea is: if I am having trouble making a living with the knowledge, experience, skills and training I have at present, I will try to improve my situation by taking some upgrading courses and learning something new. This is a completely normal reaction, and one many people have.
Unfortunately, when a person is receiving unemployment insurance, he does not have the luxury of doing this, for anyone who enrols in a course is considered by unemployment insurance officials to be no longer available for work. In other words, if you get off your backside and take the initiative to do something, you will get your UI cut off as no longer available for work. Not very encouraging to those trying to help themselves.
We might have hoped that Bill C-12 would have done something to help these people improve their situation, but no. And what is worse yet, when there were openings for people to take courses, they were even told: "Sir or Madam, you have too much education already, you have plenty of training, you are quite self-sufficient enough, so you do not need this course. So just keep on waiting until we find some way to help you".
Mr. Speaker, I see you are indicating that my time is up. I hope to be able to continue sometime this afternoon, so as to get across my entire message on this matter.