Mr. Speaker, yes I did speak of hope and I am a supporter of the EI reforms that were made and this is why. There was a necessity in this country to deal with behavioural change. I do not for a minute think it is acceptable for members of parliament to suggest to their electorate that it is okay to be on unemployment insurance, that it is a good thing to be on unemployment insurance, that people can work for two or three months a year in the fishery and then spend the rest of the year on EI and say that that is good enough.
The whole objective of EI reform was to bring in behavioural change so people would say to themselves “Maybe now that my children are growing up I may not be able to do anything about it but maybe I can move them into industries where there is more potential”. We will be proactive enough. That is why we have the regional development programs in Quebec, ACOA in Atlantic Canada, WED in the west, FedNor in Ontario. The whole objective is to help people. That is what this is all about.
Let me remind the member that the federation has given Quebec $8 billion to $10 billion more than it gives back to the federation. This country is working because it is sharing its resources to help have not regions. I do not think the separatists are going to get away with this continued—