Mr. Speaker, it takes some nerve for the minister to boast about using the transitional fund to create jobs when the $300 million to be spent over three years comes from the UI fund and the cuts affecting the unemployed.
The minister talks about creating many new jobs in 1997, in the private sector, but he is trying to hide the reality of massive job losses in that sector. Indeed, from February 1996 to February 1997, 85,000 workers in the private sector lost their jobs. Of the 189,000 jobs created in 1996, 125,000 were precarious independent jobs.
How can the minister use such a smoke and mirrors approach in promising 350,000 new jobs?