Mr. Speaker, first I would like to thank my colleague from Frontenac—Mégantic for reviewing the history of the system and explaning how it works.
However, the purpose of the motion is not to question the program as a whole but rather to question its unfairness. Before I start, I would like to congratulate my colleague, the member for Churchill, for her initiative. It is a worthwhile one.
The Bloc Quebecois is in favour of Motion No. 197. I will read it for the benefit of those of are listening to us.
That, in the opinion of the House, the government should amend the definition of “pensionable employment” in the Canada Pension Plan to include workers' compensation payments.
We support this motion. Why? Because it is a matter of fairness. Why should victims of industrial accidents and occupational diseases be penalized when they are already penalized by negligence in the workplace, among others? Why kick somebody who is already down?
As we know, it is already possible to exclude 15% of the employment period as time absent from work. That actually does increase the average salary and, in turn, the amount of the retirement pension, as pointed out by my colleague. However, that is not enough. The situation must be corrected and, once again, I invite the federal government to follow the lead of Quebec.
Since the 1920s, a social consensus has emerged in Quebec among employers, the state, workers as well as unions as a whole, making the employer responsible for industrial accidents. I would like to point out that a certain prerogative in the Quebec legislation is a determining element in the difference between what is done at the federal level and what is done in Quebec, and I quote:
For the purpose of benefit calculation, the months included in a period where compensation is paid may be excluded from the contribution period. Such an exclusion must be to the advantage of the beneficiary of the benefit, i.e. increase the monthly average of pensionable earnings. Thus both calculations, with and without the exclusion, must be made to establish whether it is advantageous for the contributor.
If the exclusion is favourable to the contributor, it will take effect, and the benefit will be financed in part by all contributors to the Quebec pension plan.
Those are two major differences. The federal government is going after the workers, while Quebec is trying to help them. Which brings me to my next point. Why is the federal government hurting the workers instead of helping them?
Some would argue that this measure would incur expenses. Yes, it would increase social costs. But I would remind the House that the government has built up a $45 billion surplus in the EI account at the expense of the workers. Why not decrease EI premiums to avoid such unfairness?
This is a very simple solution that would bring us closer to a compromise and address the concerns of EI contributors as well as Canada pension plan contributors. If the federal government were sensitive to workers, it would try to eliminate such inequities in Canada. But this is not the only inequity. Let me give you some examples.
The Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean area is faced with some serious problems. Our young people are moving away, we are dealing with the softwood lumber issue, there are few jobs and businesses are closing down.
Let us talk about employment insurance, another program that affects workers. Graduating students in the tourism or hotel industry who would like to lend a hand to the tourist industry in the regions cannot afford to take seasonal jobs, since they need to work 900 hours to qualify for EI. This is a serious inequity that has to be dealt with for our region to develop, stand out and increase its tourism productivity on a yearly basis.
We have the same problems with the lumber workers. Again, these workers never wished for this lumber crisis. There are caught in the middle of a crisis involving two partners, the United States and Canada.
But it must be understood that the federal government has the power to intervene to help these workers. And yet it is not doing so.
The Bloc Quebecois has suggested to the federal government that it give loan guarantees to businesses so they can turn to secondary and tertiary processing, thus allowing industry to find other markets.
We talked about businesses. Now let us talk about workers. The federal government could very well have helped workers between seasons by increasing the benefit period, but it did not do so.
It could also have eliminated the two-week waiting period. This is a two-week period during which the worker does not receive any benefits. But it does not want to do that either. And there is another injustice in the fact that it did so for workers who were affected by the SARS crisis in Toronto. This is unacceptable. Why do it in one region and not in another?
There is another problem. Just recently, national unions released statistics, and I will refer here to another group that has been hard hit in our region, namely women. In 1996, 48% of women received employment insurance benefits. Today, that percentage has dropped to 36%. Who instigated these drastic measures? The former Minister of Finance, the future prime minister.
I would like to give another example of an injustice suffered by the workers. My colleague, the member for Laurentides, and myself are currently promoting an anti-scab bill. This bill is important for workers across Canada. Indeed, there is a major difference between those workers who are governed by the Quebec labour code and those who are governed by the Canada Labour Code. Right now, in Canada, it is possible for businesses to hire replacement workers.
In Quebec, we heard some witnesses, including those who spoke about the labour dispute at Cargill, in Baie-Comeau, which lasted three years. The federal government does not even want to recognize this, yet there is no cost attached. It is only a question of political will. According to the data, in Quebec, a labour dispute is solved twice as quickly as in Canada. The data is there, the benefits are there. Consequently, why is the federal government refusing to help workers? Such a measure has been in existence in Quebec since 1977. It was implemented when René Lévesque was in office. We have solved most labour disputes.
I come back to my colleague. You know that, in Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean, there are four members of Parliament. Three are in the Bloc Quebecois and one is in the government party. Unfortunately, he cannot express his views. Yet, we have the same workers, the same problems in the area, but this member is muzzled by his government, by the interests of the party in power. This is unfortunate.
For the sake of justice, why would the government not have these people benefit from an appropriate pension plan, instead of penalizing people who are at an age where they should be thinking about retiring securely. These people have worked hard all their lives. The government, by using as an excuse a problem or an illness that that hits them at the age of 60, for example, would penalize them in their pension plan. But I believe and I am convinced that they rightly deserve this pension.
Simply for the sake of justice, let us show sensitivity to all these workers, let us provide them with all the dignity that they deserve.