Madam Speaker, I listened to the hon. member's speech with great interest. I know his strong commitment to older workers. I share his feelings for those workers.
In the course of his speech, he said that the government wants workers of a certain age to say home. That is not the case at all. Quite the contrary, in fact it was our government that has created the most jobs, including in Quebec. We want people to work. We do not want them to stay home and cash cheques. We want to create opportunities for them. That is why we developed pilot projects for workers who lose their jobs.
In my riding of Ahuntsic, there are two organizations that work to create opportunities for people who have lost their jobs, including those in the textile and apparel industry. I have been defending people who lose their jobs since the first day I was elected to this place.
I would like to ask a question of my colleague. Would he admit that we want to create jobs, for example, in the high technology sector? Let us take the textile and apparel industry as an example. There are few jobs where sewing machines are used, but new technology has been introduced to the factories.
There are ways to train people who have always worked in the same sector and always done their job the same way. On the other hand, labour force training is the responsibility of Quebec and the other provinces. I should mention here that we are about to sign an agreement on the subject with Ontario. Cooperation is necessary between the provinces, including Quebec, and the federal government.
Would the hon. member admit that such cooperation is needed to ensure training of those workers so they can find new jobs?