Madam Speaker, I asked the following question in the House:
Mr. Speaker, because of the EI reforms brought in by this Liberal government and the Progressive Conservative government before it, only 30% of unemployed women are receiving EI benefits, compared to 70% in 1989.
A Statistics Canada study shows that EI cuts are the leading reason for the increase in poverty among families with children.
Is the Minister of Human Resources Development prepared to admit that, by reducing the eligibility of unemployed parents for EI benefits, she is increasing child poverty?
At the time, the minister answered:
The hon. member opposite would have us believe that women are not making gains in the labour force, in fact, the opposite is true. The unemployment rate of 5.8% for adult women is the lowest in almost 25 years.
This might well be the lowest, but the fact is that women no longer qualify for employment insurance; they now are on social assistance. If they are on social assistance, they do not qualify for employment insurance and therefore they do not show up in the statistics, in the numbers quoted by the minister. This is one of the problems we are experiencing these days.
I rose countless times in the House and put questions to the minister on employment insurance only to have her answer: “Well, people used to abuse the system, to do this or that”. At long last, the Prime Minister of Canada admitted on Saturday night during his party's convention in Ottawa that they lost in the Atlantic provinces because of the cuts they made to employment insurance and because they hurt people in the region. The Prime Minister finally realized it.
Today, the Globe and Mail reported that they want to make two changes to the employment insurance. They mentioned the clawback provisions and the intensity rule. If the government and the Liberals think they will buy votes in Atlantic Canada by raising the intensity rule to 55%, I can tell them that 55% of $6 is not much. People will get about $3.50.
People will continue to live in poverty. The Liberals have yet to understand the problem in Atlantic Canada. The problem there is that people do not qualify, they do not work the 910 hours required. Young people do not qualify. Will the Liberals finally realize the harm they have caused to families, to parents, to single mothers?
Will this government understand once and for all? Will the Prime Minister of Canada understand, or will he only listen to the Ontario Liberal caucus which is coming up with the clawback provision and the intensity rule, because they cannot live with these problems in southern Ontario?
The real problems of Atlantic Canada is that people do not qualify. Women do not qualify. Fish plant workers do not qualify. Construction workers do not qualify and the amounts they receive are inadequate.
I hope the government will make the real changes that I have been asking for in this House since June 7, 1997 when I was elected here. I won over my predecessor, Doug Young, who made cuts in the Atlantic provinces.
I hope the Liberals will look into their souls and make real changes.