Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. It will allow me to shed light on the situation.
It is true that many jobs have been created in Canada, Quebec and Ontario. Nonetheless, one of the major problems is the disparity between the need for workers and the workers available.
The government would like workers who are 57, 58, or 60, who were laid off after working in a plant for 25 years, to start working as computer technicians overnight. A few of them may manage that transition, but most will never be able to.
In a society where a federal government posts a $14 billion surplus at the end of the year, it is unacceptable to put all that money toward the debt. Some of that surplus should have been used to share the wealth with these workers.
There is also the matter of the right number of available jobs. As far as immigration is concerned, we have to make sure there is a significant enough supply of workers moving here to meet the needs. I think a greater effort needs to be made in that area. There has to be a balance between the number of people we welcome and the needs that have to be met. More effort needs to be made on that.
Another very difficult aspect of employment is that an employee might come from a job where he was earning $15, $16, $18, or $20 an hour only to start a new job where he is earning $8.50 or $9 an hour. To lose an $18-an-hour job to start another one at $9 an hour is not good for the employee or the economy of Quebec. Furthermore, this was criticized yesterday not by the Bloc Québécois, the Parti Québécois or the sovereignists in Quebec, but by Quebec's chambers of commerce. According to them, this is having a devastating impact.
We expect the Conservative government to introduce programs to give our businesses the tax framework they need to compete globally.
Finally, the hon. member said he thinks it is unfortunate that I am a separatist. Indeed, I wish there were two countries next to one another that could continue to live together. That would solve a whole host of problems and we could focus in the future on really allowing our society to create wealth and share it in a much better way than the federal Canadian system allows.