Madam Speaker, there is a very interesting debate going on over there. It is quite comical.
I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak in this debate and to describe the many ways that Quebec benefits from the actions of the Government of Canada and especially from the social spending benefits that Quebec gets. One of the most obvious benefits is being part of the country that the United Nations has recognized as the best place in the world to live. As Canadians and Quebeckers this is a shared privilege, one that we can all be proud of.
Canada is a respected member of the G-7, of the OECD, of NAFTA, of APEC and other international organizations. Membership in these important organizations provides Canadians with the commercial linkages that are necessary for success in a competitive global economy. This is something that benefits all Canadians and especially Canadian companies doing business in world markets.
The Minister of Human Resources Development recently attended a meeting of employment and labour ministers of 29 countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. At that meeting his colleagues from these other countries referred to Canada as the Canadian miracle. Our ability to meet the challenges of economic, political and social change that so many others are going through is quite remarkable and has added to Canada's international strength and reputation.
At the federal level we have been successful in restoring the nation's finances. The deficit this government inherited will be eliminated no later than 1998-99. The Canadian dollar is sound. There is a feeling of confidence and optimism in the national economy. Quebeckers have been major beneficiaries of these positive developments through lower interest rates for mortgages and consumer loans, as well as in many other ways in business and improved prospects for export sales.
Because of the dramatic improvement in our financial situation, we have regained some flexibility in our social program planning. One of the most significant examples of this is the national child benefit that was presented in the last federal budget. This novel idea is an example of a new style of Canadian federalism that works. All levels of government of every political stripe are working together to bring forward a new social program to help children and their families. This may be the most important new program of this generation. There will be many potential benefits for the people of Quebec.
The mechanics are simple. The Government of Canada will increase the federal child tax credit and thus the income of low income families. This will reduce demands for social assistance payments at the provincial and territorial level. Each province or territory can then take its savings in social assistance and reinvest them in programs and services to directly help parents on social assistance move into employment, and low income working families to stay in the labour force. Thus each province will have new money freed up to use for its special needs.
Under the program as it is now conceived, beginning in July 1998 Quebec will have the use of an additional $150 million to provide programs and services directly to Quebeckers. This program shares the same objectives as the family policy proposed by Quebec and it will help Quebec to implement it. The national child benefit is good for Quebec families and children, but the Government of Quebec so far has opposed it.
Fortunately, Quebeckers are able to fully participate in the national employment insurance program and are among its major beneficiaries. The legislation passed by this House one year ago to set up the new employment insurance system introduced several new measures to improve the employability of Canadians.
For example, a system of targeted wage subsidies was introduced to encourage employers to hire EI claimants by offsetting a portion of their wages. We expect this will help some 8,000 Canadians to gain valuable on the job experience this year and many of these will be Quebeckers.
The new EI program also includes a self-employment assistance component to support unemployed individuals who want to start their own businesses. An estimated 6,000 new entrants will be supported under this part of the program this year, and many of them will be Quebeckers. Some 35,000 are taking training courses while receiving EI benefits, and many of these are Quebeckers.
It is clear that Quebeckers are benefiting very much from the new EI program. Of the $880 million that will be reinvested annually in active employment measures across Canada, by the year 2002 about $252 million, almost one-third, will be going to Quebec.
We are also concerned about providing support for areas of the country where unemployment is high and where jobs are hard to find. In these areas employment insurance eligibility requirements are the lowest and the benefit entitlements are the highest. A number of these special areas are in Quebec. We have introduced the transitional jobs plan to work with local partners to invest together in creating lasting jobs in high unemployment areas.
At the national level about 400 transitional job fund projects have been approved and 188 of them are in Quebec. There have been 22,500 jobs created and 14,500 of them are in Quebec. The Government of Canada has invested a total of $158 million in these projects to date, $81 million of it is in Quebec. The objective of the transitional job fund is to lever other source funds to create long lasting employment in high unemployment areas. It has proven to be a very useful program for employers and workers in the province of Quebec.
I refer to the labour market agreement that was signed by the governments of Quebec and Canada earlier this year. As well as demonstrating that federalism can and does work, this agreement signalled a transfer of active employment measures funded by the employment insurance account from the federal to the provincial levels of government. For the first five years of the agreement, the province of Quebec will receive some $500 million a year to offer to its residents a tailored employment program and measures that will help them integrate into the labour market. That is a historical agreement, a major change in the way things are being done in the federation.
Over the next five years we estimate that the Government of Canada will have made available more than $2.7 billion to Quebec under the labour market agreement.