Mr. Speaker, these five minutes are very important to me.
First, I want to express my gratitude that all the parties in this House considered it worthwhile to intervene on Bill C-299. The people who had the time to watch us on television saw very clearly where the heart of this House lies.
When I face you, Mr. Speaker, it seems that it lies to the right in this House.
I would like to thank my colleague from Calgary—Nose Hill who recognized my perception. I would like to say to her, and to all the members sharing this emotion—and most of them are on this side, although I am sure there are some on the other side too—that it was not hard to be perceptive. Everyone knows that the past often foretells the future.
I heard my colleague from Charleswood St. James—Assiniboia praise the absolutely extraordinary reductions in contributions. I would remind him that these reductions boasted about by the Minister of Finance and so extraordinarily praised by him, came nowhere near to satisfying employers and workers. They did not satisfy the auditor general any more. They were not enough.
That money could have been given back to workers and employers to be reinvested in businesses because, as we know, they need these funds in the context of globalization. However, that was not done.
Everyone agrees that the poor were totally ignored in the last federal budget. The government ignored the unemployed and the needy. Yesterday, I was sitting on our committee and the Minister of Human Resources Development came to testify. He had no choice but to recognize there was nothing in that budget for handicapped children. Where is the compassion? Where is the heart? I wonder.
Right now, unemployment is going down somewhat in Canada. This is great, but that trend does not at all reflect the surge in the economy. This has been the case for several years. The economy is doing well, but the unemployment rate has not come down as much as it should have.
Unemployment is on the decrease and the poor are still with us, and in some cases their poverty is the direct result of EI cuts. While 80% of unemployed workers used to qualify for benefits, now only 40% do. One might well wonder what became of the other 40%.
Were they coddled for all these years? Did they receive government handouts? I do not think so.
My riding could be described as relatively well off, but even it has its young people who have no jobs, or who manage to find only insignificant jobs that will never give them the required number of hours. It is high time this government gave a signal to the Canadian public.
I will give it an opportunity. Despite my years, I am still a bit naïve. I will give it an opportunity. I am seeking the unanimous consent of the House to make Bill C-299 votable. We must show compassion as well as reason.
I therefore call for unanimous consent.