Mr. Speaker, I want to offer congratulations to the member for Portage—Lisgar on her election to this House and on her first speech in this House.
I speak in the interest of the cooperative notion that was presented in the Speech from the Throne this afternoon and say to the government that anybody who understands the impact of a downturn in the economy and the seriousness of the one we are in now and what is coming at us will be wondering why the government does not realize that the biggest impact will be felt by those who are most at risk and marginalized, and they are the poor in our communities across the country
I ask the member, after all of the input the government received particularly from this side of the House and others in this place, why did her government not take this opportunity to reform the employment insurance system? That system is in desperate need of reform so that more people who qualify can count on it, the hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their jobs in the manufacturing and the forestry sectors and in other sectors across this country. Why did the government not take this opportunity to reform that very important insurance system that was put together to protect people in difficult times, especially at this time with the very serious difficult economic downturn that is coming at us?