Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to get up and talk about the issues. The minister talks about EI and what the government is doing in those areas. A few weeks ago my constituency assistant wrote the minister in charge of the file. He told me there is now a minimum 13 week wait in British Columbia to process EI claims. That is over three months. I am sure all members of the House have the same problem.
What government can say it has a program to help unemployed workers when it takes three months plus a week before they can find out what they will get? Does the government not understand? How cruel can members be on that side of the House? The issue affects 50,000 people plus their families and children. Those people need a government with compassion.
The government should bring in people from other parts of the country where unemployment is not as high, move them out to British Columbia and solve the issue for the people there. It is not doing that. All the rhetoric is fine, but the government should check with its own members from British Columbia. I am sure they all get it just as I do. It does not matter whether one is Leader of the Opposition or an independent member. Members from British Columbia will have EI problems in their offices. A minimum wait of 13 weeks is unacceptable.
That is the first thing we would do. We would send people there to make sure the system worked. People could walk in today and know they would be looked after. They would not need to worry. We would work with them. If it took two years to get to the WTO we would help them through it. We have done it in eastern and central Canada but it seems British Columbia is a long way away. We have a crisis and the government pays lip service to it.
With regard to everything else we have a tariff coming up. The one thing we and the government agree on is that we will beat the Americans at the WTO. In the meantime the government should assist companies in making sure they can cover the duty so they can stay in business and get people working again.
It is a pretty simple program. The government says we will win. I agree. What then is the problem with putting up the money to make sure people can stay in business? We are talking about a couple of simple programs. If that is what the government did we would be happy. However we have not gotten an answer from the other side. Everything is hot air. Everything is a crisis. Government members tell us to sit down. They say that in the next speech we will hear a bit more about it.