Madam Speaker, perhaps I may finish the name of my riding, which is Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques, representing its four regional county municipalities.
It will be a pleasure to put my questions and comments to the hon. member for Vaughan—King—Aurora. In the past, we travelled across Canada together on the committee on employment insurance reform. I have a question which to me is entirely reasonable.
This throne speech contains not a single reference to the fact that we should review the inequities in Canada's current employment insurance. A number of regressive measures were put into the system, the excuse being that there was not enough money, but by December 31, 1997 there will be a surplus of $13 billion in the employment insurance fund.
With a surplus of $13 billion, the government nevertheless reduces the number of weeks during which people will be entitled to receive employment insurance, especially seasonal workers. They pay a penalty of 1 per cent on the benefits they receive every time they draw employment insurance benefits for 20 weeks.
In its throne speech, the government said that compassion and generosity were the hallmarks of this country. But there was not a single word about redressing these inequities.
However, if anyone should be aware of these inequities, it is the Liberal majority, because some of those who were here in the last Parliament, especially from the maritimes, and I am thinking of the Minister of Defence, are no longer here today. These are the people who paid the price for the fact that the Liberal majority did not listen to the public consultations that were held across Canada. The public wanted employment insurance reform but they wanted humane reform, the kind of reform that is a reflection of economic reality and gives regional economies a chance to diversify.
Does the hon. member not wonder why we are faced with this kind of situation today? Does he not feel like telling his government that it should act on the consensus reached by the ten provinces in Saint Andrews, where they asked for two things that were strangely similar to what the Bloc said in its campaign platform: a significant reduction in employment insurance premiums and improvements in the living conditions of seasonal workers and new labour market entrants? Is the hon. member prepared to tell his majority here in the House that all this is lacking in the throne speech and it should be corrected accordingly?