Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his question.
Some changes were made to employment insurance back in 1990 with Bill C-21. More changes were made with Bill C-113 in April 1993. The Liberals said at the time that what Brian Mulroney’s Conservatives were doing was terrible. Then they were elected to government. In June 1994, there was Bill C-17, where the Liberals lowered benefits from 57% to 55%. What they did then in 1996 to reform employment insurance was almost sinful. That was when they started filling the government’s coffers, the general accounts, with $54 billion. Now they say there is a $57 billion surplus. I thought the Liberals had virtually confessed last November and said that what they did was wrong and sought forgiveness. They were ready to bring the government down and make real changes on behalf of working people.
It is disgraceful to see them ready now to support the Conservatives and carry on in the same vein as in 1996. They are coming down on the people who built this country. When it comes to families, women and children, who are in need and do not have enough to eat, the Conservatives say, “They are a bunch of cheaters, they are just going to stay home and do not want to work”. It is disgraceful and the government should apologize. The Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development should come to the House and apologize to all the working people in this country for the way she has treated them. It is disgraceful and the government should apologize. It is unacceptable in our country. The way our working people are being treated is not acceptable. These are good people who get up in the morning and go to work—