Debates of Nov. 7th, 1997

Employment

[Tony Valeri, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, in response to the hon. member's question, let us talk about the headlines in the paper just this morning: “Dust off those resumés, the job market is heating up”.

Let us talk about the fact that Statistics Canada recently stated that the jobs are here and that the help wanted index has hit its highest level in almost seven years. The help wanted index is an indication of where those jobs and the employment level will be in the future.

[Chuck Strahl, Reform, Fraser Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I suppose that kind of answer sold pretty well last night at the prime minister's shindig. I bet it sounded good somewhere right around the Dom Perignon.

Ordinary Canadians, the kind of people the government seems to forget about, are now in the 85th consecutive month of high unemployment, seven solid years of unemployment above 9%. Is this the best the Liberals can offer unemployed people? Are Canadians really sentenced to 9% unemployment forever or just until the government is replaced?

[Tony Valeri, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, let me repeat for the hon. member that 268,000 new jobs have been created since the beginning of this year, nearly doubling the number of jobs created over the same period.

In case the hon. member did not understand me the first time, the help wanted index is an indicator of where the employment numbers will be in the future. They have hit the highest level in seven years.

The prospects look very positive for the employment numbers. We will continue as a government to pursue the policies to ensure that employment is first and foremost in the numbers.

Canada Pension Plan

[Diane Ablonczy, Reform, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the finance minister told the House “there will not be an increase in CPP premiums beyond 9.9%”. On the very same day the chief actuary of the Canada pension plan told the finance committee that there was no guarantee premiums would not rise beyond 9.9%.

Who are Canadians to believe, the finance minister or his chief actuary?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the federal government and the provinces have used prudent assumptions in arriving at a 9.9% premium. We have every confidence this rate will be stable, but we build in reviews every three years to carefully monitor the Canada pension plan. If further action is necessary it will be taken.

We want to protect future generations. We want to make sure they have a safe and secure pension at reasonable cost. This is our commitment and we will achieve it.

[Diane Ablonczy, Reform, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the chief actuary reminded the finance committee yesterday that assumptions can “easily be off track” and acknowledged that projections “have been wrong in the past”. Just yesterday we saw that within two months there was a change in projections of $41 billion in what would be in the CPP fund.

Why does the government not admit to Canadians that it does not have a clue how much its broken CPP pyramid scheme will cost us in the future?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, why does the Reform Party not admit that its alternative to the Canada pension plan is to submit present and future generations to the vagaries of the market?

Canadians do not want the Reform Bre-X alternative to the safe and secure Canada pension plan?

Child Support

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Laurentides, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.

We learn in this morning's issue of Le Soleil that an agreement between Ottawa and Quebec with respect to the proposed agreement between France and Quebec regarding the collection of support payments is apparently impossible. Quebec, however, is still ready to negotiate and has even shown its willingness to discuss the terms of the agreement that is bothering Ottawa.

With Quebec still prepared to negotiate with the federal government, will the minister admit that the statements from anonymous sources within his government may well derail the negotiation process?

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, there is no question of commenting on the so-called anonymous sources, but it is very good news that the Government of Quebec is ready to negotiate, because so are we.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Laurentides, QC]

Mr. Speaker, can the minister assure us that his government has not used this issue, which is too important for the 200 women and their children waiting for support payments, for its own political ends, and that it will not do so in future?

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, this is a question the hon. member would do better to ask her own party.

Employment Insurance

[Maurice Dumas, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Human Resources Development.

After a first announcement in the budget speech and another during the election campaign, the government ought to soon be making an official announcement on the EI contribution rate that will be in effect next year.

Everyone now acknowledges that a substantial drop in the employment insurance contribution rate would stimulate job creation. For once, does the government intend—

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, each year since we have been in government, we have regularly, taking into consideration the overall problem of public finances, tried to reduce the employment insurance contribution, and we have indeed reduced it regularly. And it is clearly the intention of the government to look at it, each time it is financially feasible.

[Maurice Dumas, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, over the past four years the government has managed to wrest $19 billion from the unemployed and the employed, by pocketing the annual surpluses from the fund in order to improve the deficit figures.

When will the minister put an end to this scandalous misappropriation of public funds?

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I do not share the opinions of my hon. colleague in the opposition.

It is very clear, where employment insurance is concerned, that we have carried out an in depth reform in order to help those people in this country who are looking for work. Looking at the results over the years, one can say that the outcome has been satisfactory, even though we would like to see a marked improvement.

It is therefore very clear that, as soon as we can do so, we will decrease contributions still further.

Employment

[Bill Blaikie, NDP, Winnipeg—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, 24,000 more Canadians are out of work since September. Twenty-four thousand more families are wondering how they will pay for their groceries, how they will pay their rent and how they will get through Christmas.

When will the government admit that it is not getting things right, that unemployment is a continuing problem which its policies are not addressing, and that it needs to do something different? Will the government please explain why we have had a continuous 9% rate of unemployment for 85 months now?

[Tony Valeri, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, once again I point out that 268,000 new jobs have been created.

There is no doubt that it is true employment fell slightly in October, but this followed seven consecutive months of solid job growth.

Month to month fluctuations in employment estimates are not unusual. We have to look at the long term trend in employment over longer periods.

In fact the policies of the government have been very effective in ensuring that those employment numbers have gone up. We will continue to ensure that the employment numbers improve. The government is committed to that.

[Bill Blaikie, NDP, Winnipeg—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I would call 85 months a long term trend. The long term trend is that unemployment has been at 9% for 85 months. What we get from the government is: “ Manana , manana , manana . Good days are coming. Just let these policies work”.

These policies have been in place and they are not working. When will the government change its mind and stop taking advice from the C.D. Howe Institute?

[Tony Valeri, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, Statistics Canada recently reported that the jobs are here. The help wanted index is going up. It is the highest it has been in seven years.

The help wanted index is the indicator of where the employment numbers will be in the future. The numbers will improve in the future. The help wanted index is up. It is up because of the policies of the government. We will continue to follow those policies and we will ensure that Canadians who want to work will have the opportunity to work because of the policies of the government.

[Jean Charest, Progressive Conservative, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the government which is in denial on unemployment. It continues to spout numbers.

I do not think unemployed families today who are listening to this question period will be very impressed by the statistics. Rather, I would like to know why the government is not listening to the business community which repeatedly asks the government to reduce employment insurance premium rates so that we can create more jobs. Why does it not act on this basic, simple recommendation which would allow more Canadians to get back into the labour market?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the question of the leader of the Conservative Party is amazing since the unemployment insurance rates reached record highs when he was in government. Furthermore, we have been steadily bringing down those rates since the record highs of the Conservative government. It is our intention to continue to do so.

Speaking of the private sector, the Bank of Montreal said that this year's job growth, which is expected to total 376,000 by year end, will continue through 1998, with a further—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Sherbrooke.

[Jean Charest, Progressive Conservative, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, with all due respect, the Deputy Prime Minister's answer is exactly what is wrong with the government.

When will the government grow up and stop blaming others for the unemployment situation? When will it stop saying that the dog ate its homework? When will it stop gouging Canadians by increasing EI premiums, as well as by increasing premiums for CPP? When will it give Canadians a break and put the money back into their pockets and allow jobs to be created in this economy?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Conservative Party should not use question period to give Canadians watching on TV a totally inaccurate impression of the facts.

We have not been raising unemployment insurance premiums. We have been reducing them. It was the Conservative government of which he was a part that let them go to record levels. I have to admire his nerve to try to change the reality and facts of what happened.

We have been bringing them down. We will continue to do so. We have been creating jobs. We will continue to do so. We will be repairing the mess made of the economy by the leader of the Conservative Party and his government. No wonder they were destroyed.

Krever Inquiry

[Grant Hill, Reform, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Speaker, on November 21 Judge Krever will finally make his report to the Canadian public on the tainted blood scandal and we will finally know the depth of the bungling that went on with the federal government.

My question for the government today is will it follow every single recommendation that Judge Krever presents for Canadians?