Madam Speaker, I would like to address a question to the hon. member, who reportedly is my shadow in the riding of Halifax West.
I noted that the hon. member spoke about health care and he spoke about taxes. But I notice he did not address the issue of employment insurance with respect to the budget. The member who spoke previously indicated that the unemployment rates are at an all time low. The government seems to take a great deal of comfort in throwing out that statement. But I am sure that statement does not give a lot of comfort to the many people who remain unemployed and, in particular, to those who find themselves ineligible for EI benefits because of the many changes that have taken place: the intensity rule, the clawback, the change from weekly to hourly qualifications and so on.
There seems to be a great significance in the fact that as the number of people who are eligible for EI benefits goes down we also notice that child poverty and homelessness is going up.
Does the hon. member feel that this budget in fact has dealt adequately with the question of homelessness, child poverty and EI?