Mr. Speaker, seven months after the closure of the BC mine, we realize that the Minister of Human Resources Development's active measures are not working.
As of May 28, only 25 former employees of the BC mine had benefited from the minister's active measures. Sixteen use the supportable wage subsidy, nine are in training, either job related or general. Of the 305 miners laid off on November 1 last year, only 25 are using a small part of the $3 million announced by the minister for active measures.
What will the minister do with the money not used? This is the sort of questions the 100 former employees of BC came to ask the minister on Tuesday. They travelled 10 hours by bus from Thetford to Ottawa and ended up with a short meeting with the godfather of the riding of Frontenac—Mégantic, the member for Beauce, who simply asked for a photocopy of the file.
The minister should read the recent column by Michel Vastel on the subject. The minister is totally out of touch with reality. He should step out of his limousine. He has never been unemployed. He has never worked for minimum wage. He has never worked nights. He knows nothing of the middle class, the poor of this country who have nothing to give their children before they go off to school.
I remind the minister that his predecessor, Doug Young, made a commitment to replace the POWA with something allegedly better when he axed it on April 1, 1997. The Minister of Human Resources Development has done absolutely nothing. What will he do?
I put the question again: What is he going to do with the $2 million, the $2.5 million left unused in his program? He has no respect for the working class. He has no courage. He refused to meet André Laliberté and Charles Lacroix. What can he offer Clermont Bégin, 63 years of age, whom he wanted to cut off employment insurance claiming that he was not looking hard enough for work in a region where unemployment runs at over 11%?
What can he offer the 58 year old miner, who has a number of skills, but none recognized by other employers?
What about the miner, aged 48, with 28 years of experience and a sixth grade education?
The minister is so timid he did not even appear this evening to answer the men from BC. He sent his parliamentary secretary.
What can he say to Noël Loubier, 50 years of age, with 31 years' seniority at the BC mine? And to Richard Rousseau, aged 49, a labourer employed at the BC mine for 25 years?
I could provide him with a whole series of sad and unfortunate cases, but this minister is still not in touch with reality.