Mr. Speaker, I would greatly appreciate it, should the hon. member across the way repeat this behaviour, if you would ask her to pipe down. I can barely hear my own voice.
Women and young workers are the main ones to bear the brunt of the deep cuts to employment insurance. It is all very well that the government has managed to deal with the deficit but it has affected one category of the population, mainly the poorest and the unemployed.
What do these people do when they cannot receive employment insurance? They are forced onto welfare, a provincial jurisdiction. This program is now subject to the Canada health and social transfer in which the federal government has made substantial cuts. Everything has been dumped onto the provinces.
As for young workers, before the reform 54% of young people aged 20 to 24 were entitled to employment insurance; in 1999 the figure was only 24.9%.
I endorse what the NDP member before me has said. What would people think if this were another type of insurance, whether fire or theft insurance, crop insurance, or some other kind? There are many kinds of insurance. If people knew in advance that they had only one in four chances of receiving any benefits, as the young workers do, would this be any encouragement to say “now I feel I am being treated fairly”? On the contrary, young people are justified in feeling that they are being treated unfairly.
At present, this is the case of the employment insurance system. This is the impression shared by all the people who pay employment insurance premiums, since only 41.9% of all unemployed workers, of all contributors, qualified for benefits in 1999. It is not only women and young people, but mostly young people and women. That is unacceptable. Yet, in its bill, the government did not change anything pertaining to eligibility.
This is my opinion and I know that our critic, the hon. member for Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques, agrees with me. I would like to take the opportunity to mention the absolutely remarkable work he has done since he was elected. He has been the Bloc Quebecois critic for human resources development since 1997 and he took part with me in consultations within the Standing Committee on Human Resources Development, during the first mandate. He is a formidable and relentless worker. This has led to many results. Many of my relatives live in his riding. I myself am a living example of the young people who leave a so-called remote area. Indeed, I come from Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques or, more specifically, from Sainte-Rita.
There were not and there still are not many jobs in that area. I must pay tribute to the work of this member and to the work of others such as the remarkable work of the member for Acadie—Bathurst, who, although he is not a member of our party, has his heart in the right place. He has vigorously defended and represented those who have felt the backlash of the cuts to employment insurance. I also want to recognize the work of the member for Québec, who toured her region and all of Quebec in connection with poverty. When we spoke of poor people, she spoke of people who had felt the downside of the employment insurance reform. These members have done a phenomenal job.
I see the member for Sept-Îles, who did terrific work during his campaign in eastern Quebec and on the north shore. These people were re-elected. The member for Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques increased his majority incredibly. He should be congratulated. I think the members opposite should congratulate him, but they will do nothing. However, they do recognize that he is a defender of the people, the poor, the people who face worry and insecurity daily. Mothers or fathers wonder every week if they will get through, be able to properly feed and clothe their children, and so on. How many people worry, like the MP for Acadie—Bathurst, about the famous gap, the period that is missing in order to get through to the spring and for seasonal work to begin?
Despite the opinion of all the members of the opposition, we have this problem. The members of the Alliance might be the exception, since I have already heard them say—although not today—that their approach to resolving the problem of unemployment is to abolish employment insurance. That way everyone will go hungry and take ridiculous jobs, will move from one province to another and will end up finding work. It is incredible.
It is as if we told the sick that everyone would be in good health if hospitals were eliminated. It is incredible to hear such magical thinking.
I now go back to my point. As the member for Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques said, we are once again subjected to blackmail.
The Bloc Quebecois would have supported a proposal to include the proposed amendments in a bill. While deploring the fact that this legislation was not changing anything regarding eligibility, we would have supported it, because we have a heart, and we care about our constituents who are going through a rough time. We would have voted in favour of this bill, even though we were hoping for a better program.
Now the government wants to formalize what the Minister of Finance has already been doing for five years, that is to take money from the surplus generated by the employment insurance fund to manage its mismanagement, and to counteract the continued laxness of a government which will just not cut certain expenditures.
That is not the issue, since all the parties have found areas where government expenditures could be reduced. But no. This government makes cuts affecting the poorest in our society, those who should not be affected by cuts. It makes cuts to EI, and tightens up eligibility requirements. This is unbelievable.
I am told the bill's effect would be retroactive to October 1, as the Bloc Quebecois leader pointed out. During the whole period that followed the election, however, the Prime Minister did not convene the House, while he could have done so before Christmas. People would have liked to see these amendments take effect before the holiday season. But no, the government took its time. There was no rush. The election had taken place and the Liberals had just won a majority government. So, the Prime Minister preferred to wait and then say “Yes, we will do this retroactively for you”. But people's rent and other expenses cannot be paid retroactively.
The day after the election I continued to see people in my riding office as though nothing had changed. People asked me “If the government is talking about a retroactive system, will their wonderful parental leave be retroactive as well?” No, it will not. Things are retroactive when it suits the government, because it has said that they will be. I find this government's lack of compassion appalling.
Finally, when he called the election, the Prime Minister had only one thing on his mind: getting elected for a third majority mandate. He was not thinking about the good of the country, about the plight of the poor and the unemployed. He apparently wanted to go down in history as the prime minister who, after Laurier, had the most majority mandates.
Unbelievable, but there it is. How can we complain about the poor voter turnout when there was so little to vote for? While not encouraging this, I can understand it. The election was called for no other reason than opportunism, not out of any desire to tackle the real problems facing a certain segment of the population.
I was re-elected for the third time with a strong majority. Members of the House know that shipbuilding is an issue of great concern to me. It is an issue that is well covered by the media in certain regions but unfortunately not on Parliament Hill. No Hill journalists are interested in the topic.
The shipbuilding sector is a sector that has been hit hard by unemployment. It is a sector that has been affected by the problems of the intensity rule, the rule applied to those who are frequently out of work.
Each year these people have lost 1% of their employment insurance benefits because there were periods of unemployment. This represents millions of dollars in my region that were lost not just by unemployed workers at the Lévis shipyard but also by businesses in my region. When people have less money in their wallet they spend less. This has an effect on the whole community.