Madam Speaker, let me begin by denying the allegation. No company was transferred from Hamilton to Brantford because of any HRDC programming. I also want to say that the company known as Wal-Mart received no HRDC funding. If the member would like to talk to me about that afterward, I will be happy to go into the details.
We are helping young Canadians like Alain Boudreau every day. Unlike the member opposite, we do not want to increase his EI benefits. Rather we want to encourage him to have the opportunity to access a good education and then a good job. That is precisely what we are doing.
We invest $155 million every year to help young people get on the job experience. As well we provide assistance and advice on how to enter the workforce. We offer various types of financial assistance so that young Canadians can have access to a good education and get a good job.
I remind the member that employment insurance is a temporary income support program for people who are between jobs. It has programs to help unemployed people return to work as quickly as possible.
It is not a needs based program. It is not like the social assistance programs run by the provinces. Rather, it is an insurance program. Those who are eligible apply for it and receive benefits based on the earnings they have been taking home from the jobs they have had.
EI is also about helping Canadians get back to work through a reinvestment of about $800 million in re-employment benefits. In addition, the Canada jobs fund was introduced to help create lasting jobs in high unemployment regions. We introduced an hours based system that addresses the special nature of seasonal work which often involves large numbers—