Madam Speaker, I like the example the member gave of his riding of Winnipeg Centre being out $20 million in EI. Where I come from, in the Lower St. Lawrence region, the amount is $83 million in a given year.
Yesterday, in Moncton, in response to a question, the Minister of Human Resources Development said that she did not think that restoring benefits would change matters, or extend the seasonal industry. This is tantamount to telling seasonal workers that they do not work longer because they do not want to.
Why are both not possible? Why could the seasonal industry's period of activities not be extended? Why could we not take an original approach to this and develop our economy and, at the same time, make sure people have an adequate income? Right now, they are being treated like economic guinea pigs. The door is going to be shut; the requirements are going to be made so stringent that they will be driven back to work. But this is not what will happen.
In Montreal, a few weeks ago, there was a job fair. I think 10,000 people turned up in search of jobs. People want jobs. What EI has done is to remove the stabilizing effect of the economy. Today, in a period of economic growth, the federal government does is not playing its role of sharing out the wealth responsibly.
There is also the member's question about the 1% rule. In fact, this allows the focus to be put on training. This is one way of preparing ourselves to compete with the rest of the world.
There was another example of that recently. The Quebec minister responsible for economic development, Bernard Landry, offered to help subcontractors obtain contracts with General Motors, to provide them with the conditions that would enable them to develop things.
The Minister of Industry reacted by saying “No, no, we must not intervene like that. We have to let the General Motors plant in Quebec close”. However, they will make sure the one in Ontario stays open.
There is no future over there. We need a government that is responsible in both social and economic terms. Quebecers realize, in addition, that they have one government too many in Canada. It leads to decisions that are unacceptable and inappropriate for the future of Quebecers.