Mr. Speaker, I was very impressed by the speech of the hon. member for Jonquière. I know that she is an extremely hard working woman and that she is also very present in her riding.
What fascinates me most is the difference between the comments of the member for Jonquière and those of the Minister of Human Resources Development. My colleague referred to the insensitivity of the minister and of the Liberal members.
I wonder if there are people in her riding who tell her that they have a hard time making ends meet at the end of the month, or that they used to qualify for a much better system that allowed them to make the transition to another job, whereas now they are pretty much left on their own. Because they are no longer eligible, these people end up on welfare, which means they have to rely on the state.
The minister continues to say “our government does not live in the past, but in the present”. This is another ill-conceived notion of the present. The minister says that they are taking active employment measures, that they are creating a transitional jobs fund. Incidentally, there is not one penny left in that fund.
The minister is taking technocratic measures. I am sure the hon. member for Jonquière could provide us with examples of people who are in dire straits, people who, at the end of the month, have very little food left to put on the table, people who are overwhelmed by their situation.
I wonder if the hon. member could elaborate on the insensitivity of that department, and compare it with the sensitivity she shows in her views and in her good work in the riding of Jonquière.