Madam Speaker, the Bloc will obviously be voting against this amendment because, as my colleague has stated, we want to go much further.
I am surprised that such an amendment is being proposed today. I find this surprising, coming from the Conservatives. Why do we have to discuss this today, instead of discussing full employment?
The employment insurance, of course, should be protected; I agree. Contributions should be reduced, of course; I agree.
Why is it that in my area, in the riding of Matapédia—Matane, there are so many unemployed workers? It is because there are no jobs. Why is it that there are no jobs? It is because the Liberals, beginning with Mr. Trudeau, created such a debt for Canada—the Conservatives continued afterwards, but they slowed down a bit—that we have to earmark billions and billions of dollars every year to pay for that debt. Because of this, it is obvious that everyone is backed up against the wall.
Today, we are being told that pensions have to be protected. But when workers have almost nothing left on their pay, how do you expect them to go out and buy things? Even small businesses, which have to pay such high contributions, often have to lay off several employees, and these receive employment insurance that I would call poverty insurance, while the owners of these businesses have to work 18 or 19 hours a day.
That is the real problem. There has been poor management for 30 years, and now, they are waking up all of sudden and saying that this is most unfortunate, that this is painful and that we have to protect the elderly and also the people who, because of circumstances, have to rely on employment insurance.
At the same time, here are the Conservatives wailing and arguing that contributions have to be reduced. But it is the Conservatives and the Liberals who put us in this mess, into this gaping hole. Today, they are waking up and saying “We have to wake up”. But the Conservatives are saying that we have to wake up because they are part of the opposition. When they are in office, they say the same thing, it is more of the same, as you know full well.
Why? I have said this before and I will say it again, today. It is because their campaign coffers are full and, when they are in office, they do not even have to ask for money; it just pours into their coffers. When the Conservatives are in office, their coffers are full too and, as a result, their hands are tied.
I can tell you, we have always said we were willing to help workers. We are willing to take to the streets with them. I went to Rivière-du-Loup, Amqui and Matane, where I took to the streets with workers in the riding of Matapédia—Matane. Now we have two new RCM, Denis-Riverin and Avignon, and they are not the richest in Canada. I will be with these people because they want to work. These people have intestinal fortitude. Quite often, they are responsible for large families and have nothing. When they start working, the premiums are so high they are already strapped for cash. They cannot put a few dollars in the bank for the few months that are difficult for them.
You know, when a father works only to get his stamps and that, quite often, they are small stamps, it means abject poverty for his children. It is not because people do not want to work, you know that very well. People want to work, but there are no jobs.
When we ask the government to help small and medium businesses, there are so many factors that come into play in handing out some money that some always end up being struck off the list, and told “No, this does not match the criteria”, “No, sir”, “No, madam”, and that is the way it goes.
So, for this amendment to be ordered, if I can put it that way, by the Conservatives, it is somewhat hypocritical, I would say. They are trying to make amends. When they were in office, they should have taken some action to create jobs.