Mr. Speaker, I had intended to address some of the points raised by the member for Mercier. Instead I must address some of the points raised by the member for Lévis.
Is there a reason the member for Lévis is dealing in rhetoric rather than in substance? What he is doing in dealing in rhetoric is the same thing that was done at the committee hearings. They do not want to deal with the substance because it will show what is really in the bill, that the bill has been improved for the working people of the country.
Opposition parties led by the Bloc filibustered debate for approximately 26 hours at the beginning of clause by clause examination of Bill C-12. The filibuster took place from approximately 9.30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 23 until 4 p.m., Wednesday, April 24. As a result, we missed being able to debate the substance of the issue and really get the facts out there.
Let me address the points raised by the member for Mercier, the Bloc critic for HRD. I grant that her heart is in the right place and that she does care, but she should look at the facts as they relate to the bill. Her remarks were long on rhetoric and extremely short on facts.
The member argued the issue was not debated and she alleged the government does not care what happens. She is just plain wrong. The social security reform committee, which I believe she was a member of, held 600 hearings. There were public meetings held by MPs. The idea was to hold 100 hearings, and I believe close to 90 hearings were held.
The people of Canada showed their concern. The difference between the Bloc, the Reform and the Liberals is that when Liberal members heard those concerns we proposed amendments to the bill. If we look at the Order Paper, at the positive changes made by the minister and other members of the Liberal Party to that bill, we looked at the concerns of Canadians and have tried to address them.
In my past life as a farm union leader I had considerable experience dealing with legislative committees. In all my experiences before legislative committees I have never seen such substantial change come to a bill addressing the concerns of Canadians. Very seldom does a minister say he recognizes there are some problems with it. Both the previous and present Ministers of Human Resource Development have said there were some problems with Bill C-11 and C-12 and asked the committee to address them.
The difference is that Liberals on the committee said "yes, we will go the people, we will put forward positive amendments. All the Bloc, the Reform and some labour unions could say was scrap the bill. That is not productivity.
Members on this side of the House have addressed the gap, which was a serious problem. We have addressed the divisor, which was a serious problem. We have addressed to a great extent the problem of the intensity rule. Through the amendments we will address the concern that there may be too much control by the governor in council so that debate in the future on the divisor in terms of weeks will be done in the House. We have made major improvements. The bill has become an expression of what Canadians want.
The member for Mercier talked about shorting access to benefits. Let me again clear the record for the member. The fact is 350,000 claimants in low income families will get a supplement. With regard to part time workers, 500,000 more individuals will have their work insured; about 380,000 of these will have all their premiums refunded; 140,000 part time workers who pay premiums today will also have their premiums refunded. The list goes on. Some 90,000 unemployed people who not now eligible for UI now will become eligible for EI. Those points should be put on the record.
Again let me correct the member for Mercier on the point about women. On eliminating the 15 hour per week job trap, to avoid paying UI premiums some employees restrict part time workers to less than 15 hours per week. An hour based system will eliminate this 15 hour trap. Extending coverage to part time workers, the hour based system broadens coverage to 270,000 women who work part time. Of these, 204,000 will have their premiums refunded.
In terms of women holding multiple jobs, a greater share of working women hold multiple jobs and under the EI hours based system all hours count toward an EI claim. This means multiple job holders will now be fully insured should they take sick, maternity or paternal leave or lose one or more of their jobs for another reason.
There are exceptions to the intensity rule which will help women. The intensity rule, which reduces the benefit rate by 1 per cent for every 20 weeks of regular benefits claimed over the past five years, will not apply to 108,000 women who receive the family income supplement and have a history of past use of EI. It is important that I put these points on the record and correct some of the rhetoric of the member for Mercier.
I want to correct a point by the member for Kamouraska-Rivière-du-Loup on his concern about Revenue Canada. Since 1971, for administrative and cost efficiency reasons, responsibility for the determination of the insurability of employment earnings and assessment of premiums was legally transferred from the commission to Revenue Canada. The hon. member was informed of that at the committee but because of their filibuster it might not have sunk in.
Of some three million UI claims per year only some 60,000 or 2 per cent are sent to Revenue Canada for insurability rulings. These requests are an important control feature to ensure UI benefits are properly paid, thus saving the UI program some $116 million annually.
I point out for the member's benefit as well that there are 10 Revenue Canada tax service offices in Quebec which provide rulings on the insurability of employment. Five of these offices handle appeals to the minister in terms of minister's determination, and with this are the fewer than 28 human resource Canada commissions adjudicating claims in Quebec. These are more than sufficient to handle the 3,938 appeals to the minister in a typical year.
The member for Mercier talked about UI as economic stability. I point out to her that is what we see as a major important plank to the EI system. It is an economic stabilizer in the country. That is why we are trying to target the benefits to regions and to people with low incomes.
We have the clawback provisions and we recognized long ago that EI is important in terms of working men and women's lives and in terms of having an insurance program. It is an important economic stabilizer for the country as a well. It ensures that workers are available and that skills are available in the various regions throughout Canada.
In terms of the amendments in the bill put forward by the Liberals, we will improve that and ensure economic stability so there is prosperity in the future across the country.