Mr. Speaker, I have only four minutes in which to speak about the aberrations of the employment insurance fund, in particular the aberrant responses of the Minister of Human Resources Development. That is far from enough.
Last October 20, I asked him how he was going to improve the program. I also asked whether he was going to allow the Minister of Finance to dip into the employment insurance fund. I am sure he had given some thought to the response he gave us, because the Minister of Human Resources Development is a great thinker, such a thinker that he does not meet our expectations. He does not act. I am certain that his inaction is evidence of his refusal to budge on the issue of the employment insurance fund surplus.
His reply to me was that this new “employment insurance lite” met the needs of the unemployed. He also told me that those who were not covered are those for whom the program was not intended, people who have not worked and therefore have not contributed.
According to Statistics Canada, 38% of the unemployed received employment insurance in 1997. On the other hand, the Minister of Human Resources Development's magic figure is 78%, that 78% of those who have lost their jobs are eligible now.
Looking at the table of employment insurance coverage, we can see that some people are excluded. One hundred thousand are excluded because they left their jobs without valid grounds. The only reason that is accepted is sexual harassment, and even that has to be proved.
A total of 142,000 people are excluded because they do not meet the eligibility requirements and another 35,000 have exhausted their benefits.
We know that many people are disqualified because of the tougher criteria.
So, all the while, there is $20 billion building up in the EI fund. The government is quite happy to dip into this fund but, at the same time, it wants to give the rich greater tax breaks.
What we are asking is that the system be improved. The Minister of Human Resources Development has been boasting about the millions of dollars he is putting into two programs. He keeps telling us how wonderful the transitional jobs fund and the youth employment strategy are.
He has invested only $300 million over three years in the transitional jobs fund and another $150 million over three years, compared to the billions that are being taken from the employment insurance fund. It is shameful. That is what the great generosity of the Minister of Finance boils down to. We know very well there is a flow between the consolidated fund and the employment insurance fund.
I suggest to the Minister of Human Resources Development that he step down from his limousine and visit the ridings that are affected by employment insurance. He will discover the welcome is not so warm and his answers to our questions are insignificant and insipid.
He is also telling us the Bloc Quebecois wants people to be unemployed. When we were defending economic issues in order to keep jobs in the Quebec City area, such as Quebec 2010, the Quebec-Nova Scotia gas pipeline and the cruise ship casinos, did we hear from this minister?
We did it to protect jobs in the region, not to make people unemployed, as the minister says in his senseless answers. I could provide a few other examples, such as the shipping policy, MIL Davie, where the government showed up too late. I could have used four minutes more.