Madam Speaker, my colleague is absolutely correct of course. I think I referred to the fact that the throne speech mentioned a number of areas, such as employment insurance, child care and seniors, with absolutely no substance. Their subamendment coupled with our amendment put some meat on those bones but we should not have to do that. It is not our job. It is up to government to present a vision for the future, not a requiem for the past, which is exactly what we have in this throne speech, a regurgitation of the same old issues that have been raised for years.
People want to hear what the government is going to do, not to hear again that it has a problem here. We know that, certainly in relation to seasonal workers. Because of the lack of attention the federal government has paid to the country, because of the lack of funding to the provinces, our infrastructure, which I will use as one example, is falling apart: our highways, our water and sewer, and general recreational infrastructures. Years ago we could drive throughout this country, particularly in the summer during construction season, and everywhere we would go there were bulldozers, trucks, backhoes, name it. Now we can drive almost anywhere unimpeded because there is nothing underway. These were the jobs that kept Canadians working.
We have seen a fishery mismanaged. We see people in that seasonal line of work out of work. We see our agriculture being ignored. Again, these people are out of work.
We must realize that we must concentrate on dealing with the resources we have because they in turn can create the jobs that improve the economy and give us the money to deal with health, child welfare and everything else. It is a very simple procedure but if we omit one part of it the rest falls apart, and they have omitted the whole works.