Madam Speaker, I have to answer that there is a $42 billion surplus in the employment insurance fund. The money is there to help the workers. At the same time, though, I cannot agree with my colleague when she says that it is not a free trade problem.
Free trade has been hell in Canada since day one, because it is not really what had originally been proposed to the House of Commons and to all Canadians.
What was proposed by the Mulroney government was some sort of free trade that was supposed to help people to trade. And the term are quite clear, it is supposed to be free. In 1992, the Liberals said they were against free trade. They were still against free trade in 1993. However, once elected, they supported it.
With regard to housing, I have just spent a couple of days in my riding. Some seniors do not even have a place to live. These are older people who would like to live in an apartment or a home where they would feel secure. We could build units for them all across the country; we could use our wood and our 2X4s and 2X6s to build housing and to help our construction people here in Canada. There are solutions and I am sure that if we work hard, we will manage to find something. I agree with the workers. The cuts in the employment insurance programs are totally unacceptable. With the billions of dollars at our disposal, we could set up special programs.
I see my colleague opposite nodding. If the Liberal member from Halifax is fed up with what I have to say, he should not be here. We are here to talk about our problems and we should not be ashamed to do so. Those who cannot listen to what is being said should leave the chamber.