Madam Speaker, I am delighted to rise this evening on this adjournment motion to ask the government for additional information on the entire question of unemployment insurance.
The Bloc Quebecois has decided to make this week in parliament employment insurance week. We have poured our energies into drawing the government's attention to the experiences of the unemployed.
I think we have succeeded. We have pointed out totally unacceptable situations, such as the fact that only 41% of those unemployed are receiving benefits. Even worse, only 26% of young people paying premiums actually end up receiving benefits. This is totally unacceptable. And the government has not denied it.
The only reason offered by the Minister of Human Resources Development is that employment insurance requirements were tightened to keep students in school. I consider this an insult to our young people who have finished their studies and are entering the labour market. Is the minister unaware of what these people do as a job? When they enter the labour market they find precarious jobs, short term contracts for a few weeks or a few months.
In the first year they have to work 910 hours to be entitled to employment insurance, that is 26 weeks of 35 hours each. If it were possible, it would be 62 weeks of 15 hours, but there is no such thing as a 62 week year. There are only 52 weeks in a year.
In the end, with the new criteria, young people are systematically excluded, and three out of four unemployed young people do not receive benefits. That is totally unacceptable.
The week was encouraging because employment insurance and what the unemployed are going through drew public attention and because the Bloc hung on and made its point and got public support.
The sad part is that the minister talks about concentrating on active measures. They are important, but the federal government has delegated them to the provinces to a large extent under manpower agreements. However, the federal government has not delegated what it calls passive measures.
Making sure someone has a decent income between jobs is not what I would call a passive measure. I think this kind of measure is essential to ensure that an unemployed person has a decent income and is able to meet his or her daily financial obligations.
Employment insurance is also an active measure because it keeps people off the welfare roles. It is a known fact that, when people are forced to rely on welfare, when they receive welfare benefits over an extended period of time, it is much more difficult for them to re-enter the labour force. They lose touch with the existing networks. They are no longer used to compete for jobs. These are difficult situations.
The employment insurance program prevents people from having to rely on welfare. It is not a gift. Employment insurance is an acceptable social safety net that allows people to stay in the system.
For a long time, there was an agreement in Canada whereby resource based regions, such as the maritimes and certain parts of Quebec, would develop our natural resources in areas such as agriculture, forestry and tourism. On the other hand—and I will conclude my remarks on that note—central regions would have year round jobs. This agreement was broken by the employment insurance reform—