Madam Speaker, on September 26, I asked a question in the House about the airline industry.
My question was for the Minister of Human Resources Development. Since there were going to be layoffs, I asked her what she intended to do to help airline employees. The surplus in the EI fund stood at about $43 billion.
The minister replied as follows:
That is why my deputy minister met yesterday with officials from Air Canada to discuss precisely this fact; the programs and services that can be made available to the company and, most particularly, to its employees.
The minister went on to say “The employment insurance program is strong and sound”. If it is strong and sound, could the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Human Resources Development tell the House what the minister has done since September 26 with respect to a job sharing program, since she had tasked her deputy minister to look into this?
I would also like to ask if, by chance, she sent her deputy minister to Alcan where 3,670 employees were just laid off? What will they do back home? I am not talking about 3,000, 2,000, or 1,000 people. Yesterday I heard about a company called Méga Bleu that has 8,000 pounds of blueberries that cannot be shipped to the United States because of the events of September 11. On Monday morning it laid off 40 people until further notice.
What is the government doing to help these people with its strong and sound system? More important, can the parliamentary secretary tell us what the minister will tell us this week when in committee all of the parties agreed that the number of hours to be eligible for EI should be reduced from 910 to 700? This measure could help people in the regions where these layoffs took place.
We are talking about thousands of people being laid off. We have a strong and sound system but people cannot apply for employment insurance because they only have 700 or 750 hours accumulated. How is it that the government can be insensitive to this situation?
I hope the Minister of Human Resources Development has had an opportunity to examine her conscience since September 26. I have heard that in Newfoundland even Liberal members were saying that the minister was not sensitive to workers who lose their jobs, when we have a program that belongs to the workers and employers that contribute to it.
I am still waiting for an answer. We have asked the question on numerous occasions in the House. When it comes to the money that belongs to the workers, is the minister ready to give it back to those who contributed it especially since we have a strong and sound system?
I would like to hear the answer from the parliamentary secretary to the minister. Is the department more aware of the situation and have any steps been taken regarding job sharing programs for those who have lost their jobs in the airline industry, at Alcan and in other sectors across Canada?