Madam Speaker, on March 8, I asked a few questions in the House of Commons. I would like to refer to the second question I asked:
Mr. Speaker, while the Minister of Transport was in Chicoutimi saying that the reform was over, at the Liberal convention this past weekend Liberal members from New Brunswick and Quebec, and the president of the Acadie-Bathurst Liberal Association, Marc Duguay, voted in favour of a resolution to relax EI rules.
In light of the adoption of the resolution, does the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development agree with her Liberal colleagues and Marc Duguay that the latest reform did not go far enough to eliminate the gap and will she accept the 28 recommendations of the parliamentary committee?
The Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development responded with:
Mr. Speaker, it is incredible how popular a topic the Liberal Party of Canada convention is with the opposition parties. I can see that it was closely watched.
The minister continued:
It was a very good convention. All the resolutions we considered had been tabled. Hon. members may not be familiar with our party's constitution, but all these resolutions had been tabled long before. Accordingly, party supporters from New Brunswick and across Canada were very pleased with the improvements to the EI system.
A month has gone by and I can assure the House of Commons that the people of Acadie—Bathurst are not happy with the changes to the EI system. The people of Gaspé have said they are not happy with the changes to the EI system either.
I can assure the House that the people of Newfoundland and Labrador are not happy with the changes to employment insurance. That is what the people are saying.
It is true that people in the southern part of the province werepleased, perhaps, with the changes the minister proposed regarding the best 14 weeks. I congratulate them if they are lucky enough to have 17 or 18 weeks work, when there are people in the Acadian Peninsula and other places in the Gaspé, as well as in Forestville in Northern Quebec, who have trouble getting 10.
I have trouble understanding how it is that 420 hours are needed to qualify for EI, the equivalent of twelve 35-hour weeks. These people usually work for minimum wage and receive only 55% of their earnings, and on top of that, there is talk of the best 14 weeks.
I would therefore like to ask the minister whether a new study has been done to see whether everybody is happy. Is she going to make the changes? This very day, a press release from the minister announced that such and such a change would be made in EI. But not one change has been made.
When will the changes be made? Is the minister going to heed the parliamentary committee and make the 28 proposed changes?