Madam Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to put a question to the Liberal member on the opposition motion introduced by he Bloc Quebecois, but before asking my question, I would like to remind the House of the motion we introduced. It reads as follows:
That this House condemn the government for the poor management seen at the Department of Human Resources Development, particularly in the award and use of grants for partisan purposes, and that it recommend the creation of an independent public commission of inquiry, whose members will be appointed by the House, and whose mandate will be to inquire into all practices of that Department and to report to the House by September 19, 2000.
I would like to give an example of mismanagement which is happening right now in my riding: the closure of a plant where several older workers have been paying into employment insurance for 30 years, 35 years or more. The employer has been paying his share too.
The plant will be closing at the end of the month and these workers will probably have to go on social assistance. Since it came to power, the government has withdrawn from a program called POWA. Under this program designed to help older workers, they were guaranteed $1,000 a month until their retirement.
According to the government's own data, when a worker gets to be 45, it becomes very hard for him to find another job. These men have worked for 30 years at the same job, in the same plant, in the same place, they have acquired great experience. Now that they are 50, that they still must look after their family, that they have a mortgage, that they have children in university, if the plant closes down, they will be left without means, they cannot get back into the labour market. As a result of the government withdrawing from the program for older worker adjustment, they are pushed on social assistance. If this is not mismanagement, I do not know what is.
I would like to ask my Liberal colleague whether he thinks it is all right to waste money handing out partisan grants while nothing is being done to help older workers? What is the government willing to do for these older workers who are losing their jobs due to a plant closure?