Mr. Speaker, older workers who are losing their jobs were abandoned by the previous government. They are now desperate, given the indifference of the Conservatives.
In a letter addressed to the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, a former textile worker expressed her distress as follows:
I worked for 47 years in the textile industry, including 45 years at Cleyn & Tinker and two years at Huntingdon Mills. I started working when I was 14 years old and I am now 62. Like me, my entire community has been hard hit by the closing of the textile mills and the resulting job losses. It is impossible to find other work; no one wants us. We have paid our taxes and paid into EI our whole lives.
Workers are on the Hill today to remind the Conservative government that it must immediately implement an income support program for older workers. This is an urgent matter.