Madam Speaker, in reply to my hon. colleague I would simply like to repeat what was told to him a short time ago. It is something which I think the hon. member understands very well.
Since March 1997 social assistance caseloads have declined in the provinces throughout Canada. The most recent figures from the Government of Quebec show that 436,200 households were on social assistance, which is the lowest number of cases since January 1993.
Some EI recipients eventually turn to social assistance, but a proportion of social assistance recipients have always been persons who either did not qualify for EI under the old rules or have exhausted their EI benefits. The vast majority of EI claimants, however, do not exhaust their benefits. They find other employment within 40 weeks of becoming unemployed.
As was told to the hon. member just on Monday, the government's employment insurance reform included bold new measures to help modernize the system and to better help Canadians to find and keep a job.
First, we chose to invest more funds in active measures such as wage subsidies or self-employment assistance to help Canadians return to work as quickly as possible. These measures have a proven track record in helping people find jobs and get back to work.
Second, we have broadened the eligibility for these measures so that all Canadians who received EI or UI in the last three years can now benefit from these active measures as can people who collect maternity or paternal benefits during the last five years and then withdrew from the labour force to care for their child.
These are very important measures that I am sure the hon. member will appreciate. We have actively engaged the problem of unemployment, especially youth employment, and we are succeeding in the battle.