Mr. Speaker, my colleague has criticized my talking about a scandal.
I quote a sentence from two of the five studies released on the 1994 evaluation “For example, a woman working in the fishing industry and a man in forestry would have each received an average of 25 weeks of benefits a year before the new system. After the bill, the number of weeks was reduced to 20. The effects of Bill C-17 were therefore disproportionate in provinces and industries relying most heavily on the insurance system”.
Another study, this time ordered by the government, noted “We have concluded that Bill C-17 has caused a 20.7% reduction in benefits paid out, essentially because of shorter qualifying periods”.
These are two scandalous effects of the 1994 reform in which the Liberals, three months after an election campaign in which they talked about moving forward and never repeating Conservative strategies. Their results were worse than those of the Conservatives.
I would therefore say to the hon. member in conclusion that he does not know what he is talking about on the subject of active measures. These measures were transferred to the provinces for the good of all Quebeckers and Canadians, because this way they might be effective.