House of Commons Hansard #110 of the 36th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was quebec.
Employment InsuranceOral Question Period
The Speaker
My colleague, as you know, we cannot use the words of somebody else if they are words that we would not be allowed to use. I would ask you not to use the word again in question period.
Monte Solberg Reform Medicine Hat, AB
Mr. Speaker, the Premier of Ontario said he obtained the money through very questionable means. How much longer will Canadians have to pay to fatten the finance minister's election fund?
Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, over the course of the last year the government has reduced the employment insurance premiums from $2.90 to $2.70, one of the largest reductions in history.
At the same time we have reduced income taxes for 83% of Canadians and we have put $1.5 billion into the Canadian health and social transfer, all at the same time eliminating the deficit.
Now the question is if the hon. member would decrease unemployment insurance premiums more, which of those other options would he not have chosen?
Monte Solberg Reform Medicine Hat, AB
Mr. Speaker, this really does not have to be. The fact is the finance minister has kept premiums artificially high, milking business people and workers and all the while ending up killing hundreds of thousands of jobs in the Canadian economy. That is what payroll taxes do.
Canadians want a date. They want to know when they can expect real cuts to EI premiums, not the nickels and dimes the finance minister just mentioned. When are we to get real cuts?
Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, since we have taken office the unemployment insurance premiums have gone down from where they were at $3.30 to $2.07. That is $4.2 billion. That is not nickels and dimes.
The issue is if the hon. member would reduce the unemployment insurance premiums more, would he have increased taxes? Would he not have eliminated the deficit, or would he have done what most of his party would do and that is eviscerate the health care and the education systems of the country?
Gilles Duceppe Bloc Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC
Mr. Speaker, the surplus in the employment insurance fund will be up to almost $20 billion this year.
In the meantime, the government is depriving thousands of unemployed workers of benefits. The Premier of Ontario is apparently even considering taking Ottawa to court for using the money in the employment insurance fund for purposes other than the ones intended.
How can the Minister of Finance continue to line the government's coffers with money from the employment insurance fund, putting money from workers and employers to uses other than those initially intended, when the very legality of this move is being called into question?
Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, first of all, the reserve in the employment insurance fund was used for the transitional job fund, to create jobs. Is the leader of the Bloc Quebecois against that?
The government's ledgers show that we have eliminated 400,000 taxpayers. Is that not what he would like to see?
We have lowered taxes for 83% of Canadians. Is that not what he would like to see? We have increased transfers to the provinces by $7 billion over a five-year period. Is all this not to his liking?
Gilles Duceppe Bloc Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC
Mr. Speaker, we are not against job creation, but he is talking about the transitional fund, which is completely empty.
And the government has been able to do all this because it has dipped into the pockets of the most disadvantaged members of society.
What does the minister have to say to unemployed workers and their families, with the banks making exorbitant profits and him raking in more than all the banks together from the pockets of unemployed workers, from the pockets of those who can least afford it? We are talking about over $6 billion a year. This is unacceptable.
Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Bloc Quebecois says he wants to create jobs.
Alain Dubuc had this to say in this morning's edition of La Presse: “Politics is killing the economy in Quebec. We will not succeed in lowering the unemployment rate—as long as we continue to bleed ourselves dry over this political debate, which is getting us nowhere”.
If jobs are what is wanted, then the threat of a referendum has got to go.
Yvan Loubier Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
Mr. Speaker, this morning, the Minister of Finance announced that he had some decisions to make concerning the indecent surplus in the employment insurance fund.
It was high time he woke up, for the surplus was beginning to exceed the levels allowable by law.
May we know more about these famous decisions the minister intends to make about his surplus, a surplus that has always been immoral and is now becoming increasingly illegal?
Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, is it immoral to fund the transitional job creation fund? Is it immoral to put money into health and education? Is it immoral to help young people, those who need work, single mothers? If that is the Bloc Quebecois' idea of morality, it is not one shared by Quebeckers nor Canadians.
Yvan Loubier Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
Mr. Speaker, it is immoral to continue to give such answers when there are thousands of unemployed people in distress.
And while he was answering my question—
Employment InsuranceOral Question Period
The Speaker
The hon. member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot has the floor.
Yvan Loubier Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
Mr. Speaker, in the minute it took for the Minister of Finance to reply to my question, the employment insurance surplus increased by $12,000?
During oral question period, it will have increased by $700,000. By the end of this month, the amount stolen from the unemployed will total $85 million.
Yvan Loubier Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
When will the minister stop siphoning off money from the unemployed?
Paul Martin LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is not going to create any employment by working himself up into a state.
Since we assumed power, there have been 1.2 million new jobs, 453,000 new jobs in the last year—
Yvan Loubier Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
You look out for your boats, but not for the unemployed.
Paul Martin Liberal LaSalle—Émard, QC
—have been created in Canada. This is how jobs are created, by investing in education and in the health of Canadians, in—
Alexa McDonough NDP Halifax, NS
Mr. Speaker, emergency provisions allow the health minister to permit the use of unlicensed blood products in exceptional circumstances on a case by case basis.
However the health minister is permitting unlicensed albumin to be used routinely and extensively in hospitals across the country. Instead of accusing those concerned of fearmongering, why does the minister not act before, not after another blood tragedy?
Allan Rock LiberalMinister of Health
Mr. Speaker, the member does not understand the system. It is not the products that are licensed. It is the importers that are licensed. Products are approved or disapproved. In the case of albumin from Alpha, it has been approved by both American and Canadian authorities. They have applied safety standards and they have approved the product.
Would the member confine herself to the facts. We had her calling over to the department last week. We sat her down with the officials. We gave her all the facts, instead of engaging in what she is doing right now, and as the member for Macleod is doing, which is creating fear on the part of Canadians who take this product without regard for the facts.