Madam Speaker, first, I will be voting against the amendments and I will give my reasons why.
I believe, as I said a while ago, that this started with the Conservatives and has continued under the Liberals. They still have not learned their lesson. That is not what Canadians and the working people are asking for.
They want to mix employment insurance premiums with Canada pension plan contributions so they can tell people how much money they can save on their paycheques. I have never seen workers in Canada out in the streets demanding decreased contributions. I have, however, seen employers demanding this.
We must not forget what I sincerely believe is happening in our economy, the reasons our small businesses are experiencing difficulties. In the June 2 election, no small business in our part of the country claimed that it was because they were paying too much in employment insurance premiums. What they did tell me was that there will be nobody left who can afford to buy anything from them, the way the employment insurance system is going. This is why small businesses are closing.
We have to back up and look at what really hurt Canadians and small businesses. If there is no one buying what a small business is selling, the negative effect on the system is far greater than the contributions. People working can pay their contributions. When they are not working, they cannot.
Our system in Canada is running amok, and we have not yet finished paying. We have not finished paying for what we is going on. I listen to what the people at home are saying. I can tell you that it was not only people working who voted for me. Small businesses worked for me and believe in what I say.
The change to the unemployment insurance system began with the Conservative government and was continued by the Liberals. My predecessor said, when he was in opposition, “You are going to create a mess in New Brunswick. I encourage all New Brunswickers to fight any changes to the unemployment insurance system with vigour, because they will spell disaster for New Brunswick”. That is what my predecessor Doug Young said at home. Do you know what our people said? “Mr. Young, we will show you the door, because you have done our region damage”. I say to my colleague that he should think about what he says and that it is not the rates that did the most harm.
I have a problem with the way these things are considered. In other words, we will have to improve our employment insurance system. The focus must really be on job creation and when it is on real job creation, the system will automatically cost less, because there will be fewer people on employment insurance, contributions will decrease and it will all happen.
I think that is what we must look at. The Canada pension plan is expensive at present, but we could perhaps consider alternatives for the Canada pension plan.
I have nothing against the fact that a person who is sick or injured will receive a disability pension, provided this person does not work for a company and the disease or injury is not work related. But I do have a problem with a person who works for a company and pays for compensation, as we call it where I come from, who, one year after having been injured, is asked to apply for the Canada pension plan. Because in that case the CPP has to pay first, when another plan should perhaps be paying for that, especially when the person in question has an employer.
Instead, benefits are paid out of the Canada pension plan for any accident that happened on the employer's premises. The compensation plan only covers the difference between the two plans. Perhaps we could take a look at this, at having employers make their businesses safer places where fewer accidents happen. It might save money.
How many Canadians are receiving CPP disability benefits today when the company that employed them should perhaps be held financially responsible, if the accident happened at the workplace. But that is not how it goes.
My point is that we should look at the whole picture and see how CPP money could be saved by making those responsible pay. Next, we should look at employment insurance and see how small business people can have enough money left to run their businesses.