Mr. Speaker, recently, the Minister of Human Resources Development said rather suavely if not innocently “We no longer have a deficit in Canada, which means that the poor families are now richer.”
Yvon Deschamps, a renowned stand-up comic in Quebec, once said “It is better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick.” I do not know if the Minister of Human Resources Development is trying to compete with Mr. Deschamps, but with statements like that one, he is succeeding.
In other words, what the minister is telling us is that, thanks to the tightening of the employment insurance program, poor families are getting richer. Since this Liberal government was elected in 1993, there are 500,000 more people living below the poverty line in Canada. We cannot hope to solve the problem with the poverty insurance system we just talked about—because it is not an employment insurance system, but really a poverty insurance scheme.
Poverty insurance will particularly affect one category of workers, pregnant women. For these women, it will become increasingly difficult to qualify for maternity benefits. The hon. member for Québec touched on that issue and I would like her to answer my question.
What will happen to pregnant women whose access to maternity benefits and special benefits in general, like maternity leave, sick leave and adoption leave, will be reduced?