Mr. Speaker, this is the first time I have had the floor since your election as Speaker. I join my colleagues in congratulating you. As was reported in the papers, you are the finest selection of Speaker in the last quarter century. We look forward to working with you over the next few years.
The government had an opportunity to change employment insurance into a true insurance plan. As it stands today, the government is taking $10 billion out of the pockets of employers and employees. We feel this is nothing more than a tax.
The government should be trying to strike a balance on this sensitive issue. Certainly it must be able to reduce the amount of moneys that employers and employees pay so that there will be enough money for those who are unemployed through no fault of their own.
When the government takes excess money from employers and employees, that is a tax. It prevents businesses from having the money to train their people, invest in their companies and be competitive. That excess tax acts as a lodestone around the neck of a company, preventing it from being competitive internationally. It is at a disadvantages because it pays more out of its pockets as time passes.
This does nothing to help those who are most vulnerable in society. It does nothing for those who are making the least amount in society. It also panders to a level of mediocrity that my party and our country are fed up with catering to.
Let us talk about what can be as opposed to what is. Canada can have a more competitive environment which lets the private sector employ more people, have money to invest in its own companies and have the infrastructure needed to compete not only domestically but internationally.
These moneys should be invested in education. They should be applied to the debt. They should be used to lower taxes and ensure that companies and employees have the skills to be competitive in a global environment.
We live in a very complex and changing world, one which is more globalized and more interconnected. What happens half a world away impacts upon our employers and employees.
We also have a changing demographic in our society that no one is talking about. The population over the age of 65 is set to double in the next 20 years.
Do we ever hear from members on the other side of the House what they will do about that? Do they ever talk about what will happen to old age security, guaranteed income supplements, GIS? Do we ever hear about what that will do to CPP? Do we ever hear about what that will do to the changing age of our working population?
No, we do not. It is absolutely imperative, however, that we implement changes today so that our workforce will be able to provide for the social programs we have come to enjoy.
When our demographic changes as more and more people retire, our tax base will shrink unless we make effective changes in all the areas I have mentioned. Only then can we become competitive and have money through our tax base for a good health care system, for OAS and GIS plans and a CPP that works.
All those things must be dealt with proactively, not reactively. That is why many organizations do not support this bill. Ones we might have expected to support it, such as the Canadian Labour Congress, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and others, do not. The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association does not support the bill. Organizations in the maritimes, many of which rely on seasonal employment, do not support it.
Why? It is because the bill does very little to address the concerns of people. It also does little for places that are underdeveloped and could have more, such as the maritimes or indeed my province of B.C. which has had the lowest growth of any province during most of the last seven years.
The government should have taken a cold, hard, pragmatic look at the EI plan, grounded it in true insurance principles and decreased the amount of money paid out of the pockets of employers and employees. It also must work with the provinces to reduce the rules and regulations that choke off the private sector. It needs to work with the provinces so we can have a good education system that invests in people and lets the private sector invest in its employees.
We also have to look at reducing other taxes because they are hamstringing the ability of private sector employers to be competitive, to hire people and to provide the most important social program of all, a job.
It is incumbent upon the government to listen well and act responsibly. If it does that and listens to members from across party lines, we can build a true and effective EI program on true insurance principles that can be sustained into the future.