Madam Speaker, like my colleague, the hon. member for Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques, I am pleased to speak today on this important issue.
It is a well known fact that the Bloc Quebecois is very concerned with the employment situation and the new employment insurance reform.
The Bloc Quebecois has made this whole issue its priority. We have made many suggestions to the government to improve the employment insurance reform, which is extremely hard on those who lose their jobs. This is an unjustified reform, especially when the government is piling billions of dollars, more precisely $6 billion a year, in the employment insurance fund.
The motion of the hon. member for Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques reads:
That the House castigate the government for the catastrophic effects of its reforms to unemployment insurance; for having taken over funds destined for unemployed persons; and for its inability to adapt the unemployment insurance system to the new realities of the labour market, particularly where young people, women, and self-employed persons are concerned.
Last past week, there were editorials in various Quebec newspapers describing this reform as unjustified.
Let me quote a few. La Presse called it primarily intellectual fraud, a poor approach to taxation, a fundamental lack of transparency on the part of this government. The government is not honest with the people. That is what we have been denouncing for over a year. We have denounced this lack of transparency where the government helps itself to money paid first by the workers and second by the employers. This is a very harsh reform, which runs counter the very essence of what a real employment insurance reform should be.
In Le Soleil , Donald Charest wrote “This is a fictitious surplus”. It is well known that the $19 billion soon to be accumulated in the employment insurance fund are no longer available. It has been used to pay the government's grocery bill, its deficit.
The government will be in a jam in the event of a recession. As one of the editorials said, if at least the government had had the foresight of accumulating this kind of surplus in case of a recession, it could have been said that the government had an ounce of wisdom. But this is not what is happening in reality, because we know full well that the amounts have been spent. These amounts are virtual. They are not in the fund.
The fact that contributions are being maintained at very high rates, that is $2.70, is very harmful for job creation. They were reduced by only 20 cents. We know that for a worker who earns $500 a week, these 20 cents represent $1 less in weekly contributions.
Through the hon. member for Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques, six bills have been introduced. When the human resources development minister responds to our questions in the House, as he did during the employment insurance week, he is not very credible. He gives us somewhat farfetched answers that reflect his lack of humanity and compassion toward unemployed people.
The minister tells us there are 500,000 more part time workers who were not covered by the system and who are now covered. He says to women who are on maternity leave that once their children are raised they will have some extra assistance through employment insurance. He also says that the government has acted in a courageous manner and wanted to break the dependence cycle.
I respond to this by saying that even though there are 500,000 more part time workers who were not covered by the employment insurance system previously, in fact this means that these workers are paying contributions but cannot get any benefits. These women do not qualify for employment insurance because they have not worked enough hours. This is especially true for part time workers.
For some women who have worked for 40 weeks, if they have worked more hours during the first weeks, it does not count, because the calculation is on the last 26 weeks. Consequently, they receive even less benefits than before.
This is a reform that is unwarranted and we have several comments as a result of the minister's answers. He says that the government did not want a repeat of the situation that existed when the Liberals came into office, when the deficit was at $6 billion. I can fully understand that a $6 billion deficit is a concern for the government, but when there are $19 billion in the employment insurance fund, I say to the minister that he is not in a rush to undertake a reform, because it works to the government's advantage. At present, the government gets another $700,000 every hour. Each and every hour, $700,000 more comes into the government's coffers. So leaving the reform as it is means that, in the meantime, the government is making money on the backs of the workers. This is something to be severely criticized.
I am glad much was made of this last week. The minister responded to questions from the Bloc Quebecois by saying that he had been all over the country meeting with people to discuss the impact of the reform and that it is always a pleasure for him to listen. He is very polite, but he is not very quick to act.
It is all fine and well for him to listen. However, members of the Bloc Quebecois are not the only ones criticizing the reform. Last week, other parties were as vehement in their criticism of the government's attitude in dipping into the employment insurance fund to wipe away its deficit, which was very dishonest and showed its disdain for the public.
The minister does not want to rush into any hasty decisions. I understand, it is worth his while not to. When a government is accumulating a surplus of $6 billion every year, there is no need to worry about the deficit, because the employment insurance fund is right there to dip into. Taxes could have been raised, but we are wise to the game the Minister of Human Resources Development and the government in general are playing. We are wise to them. They did not want to be unpopular, there they were with a smile on their faces. They paid down the deficit and now they can walk with their heads held high as a result. But I would not be so proud of myself, knowing that thousands of people are no longer eligible for employment insurance.
The minister's response to the Bloc Quebecois bills is that they are no solution that will help the unemployed to get back in the work force. My response to that is that we are concerned for the workers in transition, the ones who are short of weeks for employment insurance, the women who are not qualified for maternity benefits.
My response as well is that we are very concerned about a solution that encourages people to go directly onto welfare. That is the path the present Liberal government is pointing people to. We know this costs millions of dollars, $845 million in Quebec and $1.6 billion in the rest of Canada. This means $2.5 billion downloaded onto the provinces.
As we know, the Canada social transfer was cut by $42 billion instead of $48 billion. This is what the minister calls giving provinces money back for health care. We call it cutting less than previously announced. The minister had announced $48 billion in cuts and he cut only $42 billion. He was able to be this generous thanks to the employment insurance fund. He did not even have the honesty to show his true colours, and say what he really intended to do.
The unemployment insurance reform was aimed at revitalizing the job market, and what do we see? Thousands of workers in vulnerable jobs on the fringe of the labour market are being excluded. This is a disaster. It is estimated that only one out of four young workers between the ages of 20 and 24 qualifies for employment insurance benefits.
And then there are women. The minister gives us simplistic answers. He does not even have statistics to back them up. He tells us it is due to the birth rate. Then can he explain why maternity benefits dropped by 6% while the birth rate dropped by only 1%? The discrepancy is obvious.
I deplore the bad faith of the Minister of Human Resources Development, who enjoys reading his files, but has very few concrete measures to offer. The Bloc Quebecois has worked very hard to find solutions and make the reform easier on the unemployed. But obviously the government has no intention of backing off.
The people will judge it on its accomplishments. We know how the former Minister of Human Resources Development was voted out of office. He lost his seat because his reform was too harsh on the least fortunate.
I am asking the government once more, as we did on the human resources development committee, to review the whole issue of the reform; hopefully the employment insurance week will give it cause for reflection.