Mr. Speaker, I met with the Prime Minister myself and presented to him a series of initiatives and ideas that the NDP felt we could work together on. Sadly, his reaction to me was, “I guess we are just going to have to agree to disagree”. In other words, the Prime Minister had no intent, really, of working together with my party and that became apparent in the economic statement for all to see.
We have also lost confidence in the government's ability to really tackle the issues that are facing families as they sit down to try to pay the bills at their kitchen tables. Perhaps the most egregious example, if I may, is the fact that there was no understanding. When people get thrown out of work and are given a bit of severance pay, the first thing the government says is that they cannot even apply for help for two weeks.
Then it says that people have to spend all of their severance pay, impoverish themselves and grovel, that the money they were supposed to be able to put aside for tough times must be spent before they can ask for insurance from a fund that they paid into for years and that built up over $50 million of surplus, and that was stolen by the previous government. That theft was maintained and enshrined in law by the member's party so that money will not be given back. That money belongs to the working people and they need it now to put food on the table. That is why the NDP has no confidence in the government.