Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Oak Ridges.
I am pleased to rise today to speak to the motion before us.
I think this motion is another example of the attitude of the member and his colleagues from his party who are trying to demolish the progressive legislation that our government put in place during its first mandate.
We have listened to Canadians. The Government of Canada has modified the outdated unemployment insurance program to adapt it to the new realities of the job market. After two years of consultations, we have fulfilled the wishes expressed by Canadians in that regard.
We have created a forward looking employment insurance program that is more flexible, that meets the needs of a greater number of workers and—I really want to stress this last point—that is self-sustaining.
The main purpose of the new employment insurance program is to help all unemployed Canadians, regardless of where they live, to go back to work, and that includes Quebeckers from the member's riding. The government is very pleased to have been able to help more than 3,100 residents of the riding of Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques to find jobs since 1993.
With employment insurance, we have put in place a system that is more fair and equitable. We wanted to put an end to the vicious circle of dependency encouraged by the previous system. The employment insurance program is better equipped to create jobs in regions where unemployment is high.
Our employment insurance system strikes a balance between providing workers who lose their job the income support they need, and giving them the means to return to work.
For example, the system is specifically geared to workers who are entitled to the family income supplement, which helps low income claimants with children. For these people, this supplement is more than double the weekly benefit supplement that they used to receive under the old system.
Moreover, the employment insurance system sets at $50 the minimum amount of eligible supplementary earnings, thus allowing low income claimants to increase their employment income without having their employment insurance benefits cut. Those who are entitled to the family income supplement are exempt from the intensity rule. Moreover, the system pays back the employment insurance contributions made by those who earn less than $2,000 a year.
The employment insurance system is not only compassionate, it is also well thought out. For example, by determining eligibility based on the number of hours worked instead of the weeks of employment, the system is more fair and gives greater consideration to the realities of the current labour market.
It is true that people must work for a reasonable period of time before qualifying for benefits, but this is only reasonable. Again, the system is compassionate towards those who did not work long enough to receive benefits. The new system provides better support than did the old one.
For example, any person who collected ordinary benefits in the past three years can benefit from active re-employment measures. The same goes for those who collected maternity or parental benefits during the last five years, and who left the workforce to take care of a child.
These active re-employment measures give unemployed workers an opportunity to gain the skills and experience necessary to find a job. We are helping, among others, up to 45% of provincial welfare recipients.
In his motion, the hon. member claims that employment insurance treats women unfairly. I do not know where he got this idea. The system is far from unfair to women, quite the contrary.
Since the employment insurance plan has been implemented, part time workers, a number of whom are women, are not limited to 14 hours a week jobs like they used to be. Does the hon. member realize that the plan now covers about 270,000 women who were not eligible under the former unemployment insurance plan? Does he realize that nearly 70% of recipients—I must be touching a nerve, because members opposite are hollering—who get the family income supplement are women, and that nearly 700,000 women who work part time will have their contributions reimbursed?
More important, contrary to measures promoted by the Bloc Quebecois, we are well on our way to helping women re-enter the labour market through active employment measures and job creation projects. Any reasonable person will admit that putting people back to work is better that keeping them on benefits for a longer period of time.
The hon. member is worrying about the impact of employment insurance on young people. Let me tell you that young people today would agree that developing their full intellectual potential is crucial if they are to get a well paid job in today's knowledge based economy.
It is a fact that eligibility criteria have been made more stringent for newcomers on the labour market, but the intent is not to penalize young people. Quite the contrary, studies have proven that too easy an access to the former unemployment insurance plan was an incentive to drop out of school for small short term jobs followed by dependency on benefits.
Is that what the hon. member wants? I am sure his constituents will be happy to hear that. The government does not think it is a good idea to encourage young people to become dependent on benefits. Our goal is to encourage them to stay in school as long as they can and then help them make the often difficult transition from school to the labour market.
The hon. member of the Bloc Quebecois and his colleagues should know that the new employment insurance plan is very advantageous for seasonal workers. Many of them work long hours and are therefore at an advantage under the new system, which is based on the number of hours worked. I repeat: many seasonal workers work long hours and are therefore very much at an advantage under the new system, which is based on the number of hours worked.
If the Bloc Quebecois had its way, it would revert to the old unemployment insurance system, that passive system that Canadians, including Quebeckers, rejected as outdated. We will not do that.
We look toward the future and the future has already begun. The Government of Canada and the Government of Quebec signed a labour market development agreement under which we will invest $2.7 billion in the next five years. The province will be able to develop and manage programs specifically tailored to the needs of Quebeckers.
But, as usual, for the Bloc Quebecois, there is nothing good and bad things are our fault.
However we are ready for the future and the employment insurance program has a role to play in that future, even though the members of the Bloc refuse to admit it.