Madam Speaker, I cannot help but notice this morning, during the debate on a motion put forward by my colleague from Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques, that the arrogance and cynicism shown last week by the Minister of Finance and also the Minister of Human Resources Development are contagious.
The hon. member for Malpeque, in Prince Edward Island, and the hon. member for Kenora—Rainy River, in Manitoba, were laughing at us, making disparaging remarks while we were delivering our speeches, while we were talking about the poverty created entirely by the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Human Resources Development. Their smiles, their cynicism and their disparaging remarks make them unworthy of speaking on behalf of those they claim to represent.
I was listening earlier to the hon. member for Acadie—Bathurst, who defeated Doug Young. During question period and debates concerning employment insurance, Doug Young used to demonstrate the same pompous arrogance and cynicism and make the same disparaging, uncalled for and unparliamentary remarks as these members of parliament. My hon. colleague from Acadie—Bathurst defeated him.
I hope the same thing will happen to the members for Malpeque and Kenora—Rainy River. If their constituents are watching us, I want to tell them “Defeat them in the next election. Go to their riding offices and hold them accountable for their actions. Ask them why they laughed when we were talking about the poor, the unemployed and all the people left out of the employment insurance reforms. Voters from Malpeque and Kenora—Rainy River, go knock on the doors of these pompous members of Parliament who claim that the people in their ridings are quite satisfied with the employment insurance program. Go tell these cynics that it is not true. Go tell these sarcastic members they are not worthy of the seat they are occupying. They are no more worthy than the finance minister”.
His not being here today will not stop me from mentioning that last week he appeared before the Standing Committee on Finance to present his analysis of the supplementary estimates. Do you think that given the excellent job by the member for Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques we were going to stick to the supplementary estimates?
We talked about employment insurance and while I was presenting all the arguments against the Liberal reform implemented since 1996, the finance minister did exactly the same thing as the members for Malpeque and Kenora—Rainy River. He was laughing at people's misery. He was laughing at the results of his policy. He was proudly boasting about his accomplishments as Minister of Finance.
Any dummy could have done what he did; it is easy to put your financial house in order when you choose two targets: students, who were hit with billions and billions of dollars in cuts to post-secondary education, and the unemployed, who were robbed year after year of $6 billion for a grand total of $19 billion.
I listened to my Liberal colleague for Malpeque, who makes fun of the unemployed and the underprivileged, saying that the EI fund does exist, but it does not really. What the finance minister has been doing for the past four years is basically this: he has been taking employee and employer contributions and putting them into his own pocket.
When the time came to pay his debts to eliminate the deficit, he paid cash. That is why there is no money left in that fund. He stole it. At the end of the current fiscal year, he will have stolen $19 billion. Next year, it will be $25 billion, and that amount will continue to grow year after year.
If the member is too thick-headed to know what is really going on with regard to employment insurance, he should not be here. He has no right to laugh about the terrible things that are happening in Canada, especially concerning the management of the employment insurance fund.
What is going on with regard to employment insurance? What is going on with regard to the job market? It is quite simple. Until the early 1990s, more than 80% of unemployed Canadians, including women and young people, were able to rely on a form of help called unemployment insurance. They could rely on that help for a certain amount of time, enough to relocate and to find another job.
Since 1996, since the reform brought in by the member for Lasalle—Émard and finance minister and by two successive human resources development ministers—the first being the one who was defeated by my colleague from Acadie—Bathurst and the second being the one whom it would be in our interest to defeat in the next election—, the proportion of employment insurance beneficiaries has shrunk almost by half.
Today, only 42% of those who would normally qualify are eligible to receive benefits; less than half of those people, 42%, are now eligible because of the new requirements set by the Minister of Finance, by the Minister of Human Resources Development, in fact, by the Liberals. A lot of people no longer have access to employment insurance because of the reform.
These are general figures. Only 42% of the unemployed qualify, which means the other 58% do not. More than half of those who are affected by the scourge of unemployment no longer qualify for EI benefits because of more stringent conditions and a longer qualifying period. In short, the unemployed have been thrown out on to the streets.
The Liberals are telling us they want to help young people, but 75% of all young workers who are unemployed, people who have graduated and are in their twenties, do not qualify for EI benefits. Some of them are less educated, but others have graduated and are out of work nonetheless. It can happen to anybody.
Last week, the finance minister was quite proud to tell the finance committee that we may have a budget surplus next year, not a EI fund surplus, which we know about. He is making fun of us. He laughs at people right under their noses. He is cynical and sarcastic, as we saw this morning.
In his last budget, he told us there would be no surplus and no deficit for the next three years. He is laughing at us. If nothing changes, the budget surplus will be more than $20 billion three years from now. He is cooking the books.
He was quite proud and he kept laughing when I told him that in 1989, there were 400,000 fewer unemployed and $3 billion more in benefits being paid out. The finance minister was laughing this morning, and his colleagues too. His colleagues from Malpeque and Kenora—Rainy River laugh when we tell them we have 400,000 more unemployed workers today and that they get $3 billion less in benefits. They find this very funny.
Last week, I asked the finance minister a question about this problem. I did not get any answer. I will ask my question again today. Perhaps, we never know, he is listening in a corner of his office, behind closed blinds because he does not want to meet anyone at this point. I have just one question for the finance minister: when he gets up in the morning and looks in the mirror, is he ashamed of himself? It is a real shame to have acted in such a way to put our financial house in order.
There are two major sources: the Canadian social transfer, that is federal transfers to the provinces to fund welfare, post-secondary education and health care, and the employment insurance fund, into which the minister has been dipping, year after year. He puts the money in his pockets and when the time comes to sign a cheque, he uses the money he has taken from workers and employers.
The finance minister did not bother answering me. He did not because I am convinced that he now has doubts. If he does not have any doubts, there is a lack of intelligence somewhere.
But one cannot undertake a reform in this hurtful way and say with one's hand on one's heart: “But what is happening to Canada? Poverty has been on the rise for five years”. I should say so. There are more poor children than before. Why? There is no need to be a rocket scientist to know why. One cannot cut billions of dollars from the employment insurance fund and welfare and then expect to get away with it by saying “What is happening? There are more unemployed people than before”.
These are the people responsible, the ones who are laughing this morning when they are shown the true face of poverty and unemployment. I hope that Quebeckers and Canadians will open their eyes and especially their ears wide. Such cynicism cannot go unchallenged.