Debates of March 5th, 2009

Opposition Motion -- Employment Insurance

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to congratulate our NDP colleague for moving this motion this morning. We obviously cannot fit everything into such a motion. I understand our Liberal colleague, but sometimes wanting to have it all makes us lose sight of the basic issue. For now, the basic issue is there.

Based on my colleague's research and observations, and those of her party, would she agree that eliminating the waiting period, for example, would not cost very much since we are not increasing the number of benefit weeks, but would simply speed up the payout of benefits, which would mean that people receive benefits more quickly? Would she agree with that?

[Chris Charlton, NDP, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member. The bottom line is that we need to get money into the hands of those who are involuntarily unemployed. We also need to remember that employment insurance is the best poverty prevention program in the country during economic hard times.

We are in those economic hard times now and we all have a moral obligation to ensure we help those who are unwitting victims of this economic recession.

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Barry Devolin]

Before I resume debate, I would like to remind members how the question and answer period works in this place. When there is a 10 minute speech, it is followed by 5 minutes of questions and answers. A questioner will have about a minute and the responder will have about a minute. That way we will move through it.

I am reluctant to cut people off but if they continue to talk and ignore the Chair, I will be forced to do so. There seems to be a lot of interest in this topic today and I think there will be a lot of questions, so I encourage everyone to work with the Chair.

Resuming debate, the hon. member for Acadie—Bathurst.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I would first like to thank the member for Hamilton Mountain for having moved this employment insurance motion. Secondly, I would like to thank my political party, the NDP, and its leader for having made employment insurance today's priority.

Everyone is focused on the economic crisis and how we can give money to employers so that they can maintain jobs. We also want employees to have the opportunity to keep their jobs. At the same time, others do not have that opportunity; they will not be lucky enough to keep their jobs.

I will not repeat everything that my colleague from Hamilton Mountain said in her motion because I agree with all of her statements.

As for eliminating the two week waiting period, my colleague from the Bloc Québécois mentioned that it would simply be enough to move the last two weeks of benefits to the start of the benefit period.

The government is bragging about making big changes to employment insurance in this budget by adding five weeks at the end of the benefit period. The Conservatives are bragging about this and asking us, the NDP members, who we are to lecture them and tell them this was not a good idea, when we voted against their bill and against the budget. Well, we voted against their budget because it was not a good budget. Their budget did not go far enough.

The minister herself has said that the two week waiting period is not two weeks of waiting, but two weeks of punishment, because claimants are not paid during that time. Claimants can wait 28 days, 40 days, 50 days, even 60 days. And the Conservatives have done nothing to help workers in this regard, absolutely nothing. Just the opposite.

For example, there are rumours going around my riding this week that 15 workers are going to be moved from Bathurst to Moncton. These are people who process employment insurance claims and make sure people can receive EI. They are going to be sent away from Bathurst to take up some jobs for which they are unqualified, while in Moncton, new people who know nothing about the process are going to be trained.

This week, the minister boasted and said she wanted to improve the employment insurance system. The idea behind paying people for the two week waiting period is not to allow them to stay home, it is to make sure that once they have lost their jobs and are no longer receiving cheques from their employer, they can feed their families and pay their electricity bills, especially in winter, when it is cold like it is today and electricity bills run $500 a month.

People who have been working and earning $1,500 a week receive EI benefits calculated at the rate of 55%. I do not know whether people are aware of this. I want to tell the people who are lucky enough never to have received employment insurance that it pays only 55% of $750. So people used to earning $1,500 a week end up with $430 or $450 a week.

Yet the minister has the nerve to insult workers by saying that if she paid them for the two week waiting period, they would be tempted to sit at home. And the Conservatives wonder why we voted against their budget. We voted against the budget because it is not good.

As for the additional five weeks of benefits at the end of the benefit period, the government says it wants these people to find a job and go to work. They will not be able to take advantage of those five weeks if they are lucky enough to find work. Why not help them when they are struggling?

Our motion refers to 360 hours. Only 32% of Canadian women qualify for employment insurance, and only 38% of Canadian men qualify. We are in an economic crisis. We are all worried about the people who lose their jobs, because when they become unemployed, they do not even qualify for employment insurance, even though they paid for the system themselves.

The Liberals can laugh at the other end of the House, but they are the ones who voted against this, who made the changes to employment insurance and who allowed $57 billion to be stolen from the employment insurance fund.

The Conservatives can laugh on their side of the House. They are the ones who sanctioned the theft from the EI fund on the backs of unemployed workers, on the backs of families and on the backs of those most vulnerable. They now stand here and brag that they can balance the budget, and eliminate the deficit—on the backs of the poor, the unemployed workers and people who work in factories, in the forestry and manufacturing sectors and the auto industry in Ontario.

The president of the Canadian Labour Congress—and I would just like to congratulate the CLC and thank it for everything it is doing for working men and women—asked for a meeting with the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, but so far she has refused. She is refusing to meet with the president—the representative—of Canada's largest union. If the president of General Motors asked for a meeting, would she not take his call? If Alberta oil companies asked for a meeting, would she not take their call? But does she have time to take a call from the man who represents workers? Of course not. Workers are a bunch of lazy good-for-nothings who do not want to work. They should be cut off from employment insurance. They do not deserve to get any money because they are a bunch of slackers. That is shameful, insulting and unacceptable.

On Monday when this comes to a vote in the House of Commons, we will see how many members support the NDP motion, how many people will stand up in this House, how many representatives of the people, of working men and women, of Canadians and Quebeckers, how many of those representatives will agree to use this program, which belongs to the working people, to help those very people.

In June 2005, we raised the 12 best weeks issue. My Liberal colleague stood up earlier to say that we never asked for help for people who wait a long time for their employment insurance benefits. We asked the government to use the 12 best weeks, but the Liberals voted against it. They voted against using workers' 12 best weeks. I remember that; I have a pretty good memory. I remember what they did, and I remember that they did not support workers.

I am thinking of self-employed workers. I am thinking of a woman who is self-employed and who told me that she could never take a sick day or even have a child because if ever she took a day off, she would have to close her company. She would lose her livelihood and there would be nobody to help her. What did the government do for self-employed workers? Nothing at all.

I will tell you about one of my constituents. Gina Miller, a hair stylist, became pregnant and asked for help because when she stops working there will be no one left and she will no longer have a source of income. She asked for assistance. There were no programs to help her. Today, the Conservatives have the gall to ask why we voted against the budget. It is because, in this time of economic crisis, they did not include anything in the budget to help workers. They boast that the five weeks they added at the end of 45 weeks of benefits will help solve these people's financial problems. It is shameful and they should not be boasting about it.

Whenever we introduced bills in this House, we included all the changes that were necessary. They said it would cost too much and that they could not vote for all these changes. The motions and the bills were discussed, one by one, but they voted against them because they do not believe in the workers. It is like a rabbit with a carrot. They seem to be saying that it is unfortunate if they are made to suffer, but the workers will be the employers' slaves. That is what they want: workers who do what they are told. As for the rest, there is nothing. There is absolutely nothing.

After applying for employment insurance, workers wait 40 days before being called by a representative and finding out whether or not they qualify. Forty days. How do these families survive?

Once again, I wish to thank the New Democratic Party, my party, for tabling in the House of Commons this most important motion especially in these times of economic uncertainty.

[An hon. member]

Time, time.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I hear someone from another party calling out “Time, time”. That is more proof that, like the Conservatives, they are against the workers.

[Randy Kamp, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to the rhetoric from the member for Acadie—Bathurst and the member for Hamilton Mountain before him. I want to revisit the issue of the waiting period. I actually have some real questions for him, questions of clarification.

It seems to me that if an individual becomes unemployed during this recession, it is at the micro level for that individual and his or her family. It is not really very much different from the person who became unemployed prior to the recession. They are both feeling the same effects. I do not recall the NDP proposing prior to this economic downturn that the waiting period should be done away with.

Why did members of the NDP not propose it before this if they thought it was such a difficult thing for unemployed people? Are they proposing that this be a permanent measure or is this just a temporary measure?

Second, because the EI program is largely funded by the users of the program, are they in favour of the premiums going up for those who are employed--

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Barry Devolin]

The hon. member for Acadie—Bathurst.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, those are two good questions.

Are people in favour of paying more premiums? I have never seen workers rallying in the streets and saying that they were paying too much into EI but I have seen many people rallying in the streets and saying that they were not getting their EI. It is not the $1.80 per $100 that makes the difference to the workers.

The member said that the NDP has never put a motion forward in the House about the waiting period. As I said, it is not a waiting period. People do not get paid for the first two weeks. However, the NDP has put forward motions and bills in the House, as has the Bloc Québécois, to get rid of the two week so-called waiting period. I introduced bills in the House in 1999 but they were consistently refused by the Conservatives, the Reform or the Alliance, the whole association.

The member asked if this should be permanent? Yes, it should be permanent. Why should people be penalized when they lose their job. We should just pay them. The member himself said that it was his program, why do--

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Barry Devolin]

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Mississauga South.

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the debate on EI because it is an issue that has seized this place ever since I came here in 1993. It is very important to keep on top of it.

I would ask a question for information purposes and it concerns offering self-employed workers the right to participate. As we know, they cannot now as there is no opt in, and, of course, they do not pay the premiums or the employer's share.

I know a study was going on and I wonder whether that was suggested, or would the preferred approach be to offer self-employed workers the opportunity to participate at a reduced premium rate but for benefits other than for self-layoff, as it were, that self-employed persons could not benefit by laying themselves off, but maternity and parental leave benefits--

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Barry Devolin]

The hon. member for Acadie—Bathurst

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I am happy the member said that he has been here since 1993 because it was his party, the Liberal Party, that made all the cuts to EI. His party knows how much those cuts hurt. I came here in 1997 because the minister for EI at that time was kicked out by the person who he is speaking about right now. I am not allowed to say who he is but it is the member for Acadie—Bathurst.

At the same time, let us talk about self-employed people and this motion we put forward. We should sit together as parliamentarians and look at a formula. We could bring people in, which is how laws are made, and listen to what they have to say. After that, we can produce a bill in the House of Commons that will help those people. At this moment, 74% of the jobs in our country are created by small and medium sized businesses run by self-employed people and those are the people who are being left behind.

I do not think anyone would argue today that we should not help those people. When we see those people getting up in the morning, working all day, week after week, servicing people and at the end of the day they fall sick and end up on welfare, it is not acceptable. Don Drummond said that was what would happen if we do not do something about the employment insurance.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Burlington.

Our government recognizes that many Canadians are facing difficult and uncertain times right now. We understand that it affects many of them personally and that they are going through a stressful and difficult time, which is why the government is responding.

Over the last few months, the global economic situation has worsened faster than anyone predicted. While we are in better shape than most countries, Canadian families are feeling the effects of the global recession and they are concerned. They are worried about making ends meet and worried about keeping their jobs. We are listening to them, concerned about them and taking action.

To address the most pressing needs of workers affected by the current economic downturn, our economic action plan is investing $8.3 billion for the Canada skills and transition strategy. That is a lot of money. Part of our plan is to build on the recognition that the EI program is the first line of defence for many who lose their jobs.

That is why, through our economic action plan, for the next two years we will make available, nationally, the five weeks of extended EI benefits that were previously available through a pilot project only in regions with the highest unemployment rate. We are also increasing the maximum duration of benefits to 50 weeks, up from 45 weeks. Some 400,000 Canadians could benefit from these changes. It is against these measures and this measure that the NDP has voted against time and time again.

This measure will provide financial support for a longer period to unemployed Canadians who otherwise would have exhausted their benefits. This means unemployed workers will have more time to seek employment while still receiving EI.

Before going any further, the opposition would like to make an issue of the lack of accessibility of the employment insurance program. I would like to take a moment to address this issue.

The EI program has important features that automatically respond to changing economic conditions. Currently, the EI program divides the country into 58 regions based on their similar labour market conditions. As unemployment rates increase in a given region, the number of insured hours required to access the EI program is automatically reduced and the duration of benefits increases. These requirements are adjusted on a monthly basis to reflect the latest regional unemployment rates. That is what it is meant to do. In fact, since October 2009, 19 regions have seen their entrance requirements decrease and their benefit duration increase.

With respect to access to employment insurance rates, according to Statistics Canada, EI access is high. In 2007, over 82% of the unemployed who had paid into the program and lost their job or quit with just cause were eligible to receive benefits.

The opposition likes to quote a number closer to 40% of Canadians being able to access EI benefits. This figure is known as the beneficiary to unemployment ratio or BU ratio. It is not a good measure of EI access. First, this statistic includes many unemployed who have not paid premiums, such as those who have never worked, have not worked in the past year or have been self-employed.

Second, this statistic includes individuals who paid premiums but are ineligible for EI benefits because they have voluntarily quit their jobs or they returned to school.

I would also like to point out that the current entrance requirements do not appear to impede access to the employment insurance program. Only about 7% of EI regular claims have qualified with less than 700 hours, which represents the highest current requirement.

Our government recognizes the challenges faced by those who do not currently qualify for employment insurance benefits. That is why in our economic action plan we committed to a $500 million strategic training and transition fund over two years to support the particular needs of individuals, including those who do not qualify for EI. This measure could benefit 50,000 people.

Our government also recognizes the need to support longer term training for long-tenured workers, which is why we are extending income support for the duration of the retraining. This will benefit an estimated 40,000 workers. We are also granting earlier access to EI for workers purchasing their own training with their earnings resulting from a layoff, such as severance pay.

We will protect jobs. Just this morning, the minister announced the implementation of a significant expansion to the work sharing program. We are extending the duration of work sharing agreements by 14 weeks to a maximum of 52 weeks. This will enable Canadians to continue working through this slowdown. These changes to the work sharing program are available immediately. It is those measures that the hon. member and others in that party voted against.

To complement this measure, we are substantially increasing access to work sharing agreements through greater flexibility in the qualifying criteria. This will help Canadians continue working. These enhancements are available starting today. These are concrete actions to help Canadians and their families.

Our government also recognizes that EI maternity and parental benefits play a critical role in supporting Canadian families by providing income replacement for working new parents. That is why in our economic action plan we are committed to establishing an expert panel that will consult Canadians on how to best provide the self-employed with access to EI maternity and parental benefits.

In terms of processing EI claims, which was referenced earlier, our priority is to ensure that workers and their families receive EI benefits as quickly as possible. We have already made significant efforts and investments to process the increasing EI claims. We are hiring additional staff, redistributing workloads across the country and recalling recent retirees. We are also increasing overtime and hours, opening EI call centres on Saturdays and increasing automation of claims processing.

I just heard the hon. member say that some of the extra people being hired are not trained. He tries to blow hot and cold. We are doing all of this, adding more people and resources, but he says that he does not like that. What does he like? We will continue to improve and increase our ability to process claims and help Canadians receive their benefits as quickly as possible.

As part of our economic action plan, we are also increasing supports so that more Canadians can have access to the training and skills they need to land a new job. We are working in partnership with the provinces and territories to help Canadians. We know they have the pulse of the local labour markets and we will help them meet the needs of Canadians by investing $1 billion over two years through the employment insurance program under existing agreements. This will enable provinces and territories to train workers in hard hit sectors and regions of our economy, helping an additional 100,000 EI eligible Canadians.

It is through measures like this, which we are helping Canadians, that the opposition and NDP vote against. Funds will flow quickly to provinces and territories through the existing agreements.

We are also improving the targeted initiative for older workers program. This initiative provides employment assistance, skills upgrading and work experience for older workers, helping them find new jobs. We are increasing the program's budget with an additional $60 million over three years and expending its reach to help more Canadians. Over 250 additional communities will be eligible for this program through this expansion.

It is important that today's debate be put in context. The NDP members like to talk about helping the unemployed but let us take a look at their actual record in this regard.

Yesterday, they voted against helping over 400,000 unemployed Canadians benefit from an additional five weeks of EI benefits. They voted against helping 50,000 unemployed Canadians, who normally do not qualify for EI benefits, to get the training and skills they need to find a new job and to provide for their families. They voted against 100,000 people getting additional funding and training to find new jobs and put food on the table for their families.

While the NDP members pretend to care about the most vulnerable, they vote against the very measures that are put in place to help them. I find that regrettable.

While the NDP would like to propose solutions that are not costed and unaffordable in the current economic crisis, our government is actually getting the work done following the most extensive prebudget consultations our country has ever seen. We have heard from Canadians and we are delivering for them through our economic action plan.

Our plan will stimulate the economy and help create and maintain jobs for Canadians and their families. It is unfortunate that the NDP and the Bloc refuse to help their constituents in this regard by supporting those measures and the budget, the kinds of things that are needed at this precise time.

Notwithstanding this, we will continue to stand up for Canadians and those workers who find themselves in a difficult challenging time. Together, we will see it through.

[Joe Volpe, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I know the hon. member is engaging in hyperbole because he does not want that practice to go into disuse. However, I want to compliment all those who supported the measures that enhance the EI benefits for those who are, I think reluctantly, in a position where they need to receive them.

Many members may know that I and my colleagues on this side of the House were part of a government that reduced EI premiums for both employers and employees for 10 years in a row. Does anyone know why? It was because we were interested in the concept of job creation and helping to stimulate activity that created jobs.

I would like to ask the parliamentary secretary where the plan is that he referred to that suggests that his government is actually engaged in creating jobs. What is the master plan now that we have given him the authority to spend the billions of dollars of taxpayer money so that we can put people to work? People do not want EI. They want to work. Where is the plan?

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Mr. Speaker, we have asked the House to fast-track the budget implementation bill so that billions of dollars can go out to the country to create jobs and infrastructure and implement other plans.

We have also frozen EI rates for employers and employees over the next two years so that they will not have that extra cost. That member's government took $50 billion from the fund and invested it to reduce the overall budget rather than to help those who had paid into the fund. I would ask the member why his government did that at that particular time.

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we hear anything and everything around here. If there is a plan, it is to ditch workers and the unemployed. That is about it, their so-called plan.

I just heard two statements that are completely unbelievable. Two people said that they will invest, that they agree that good use should be made of employment insurance premiums and so on. Our Liberal friends say that they agree with increasing premiums if it will benefit employment insurance. However, yesterday, in cahoots with the Conservatives, they voted to freeze employment insurance premiums at their lowest rates since 1982.

I am asking the parliamentary secretary to explain his speech and his action yesterday, in partnership with the Liberals, to freeze premiums at their lowest rates since 1982.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Mr. Speaker, we froze the premium rates over two years so that employees and employers would not have to suffer the increase in premiums and so that the savings could stimulate the economy.

I would ask that hon. member, who has been advocating for older workers and supports the targeted initiative for older workers, why would he vote against the budget when it would provide $60 million over three years, for a total of $50 million per year, to communities with a population of less than 250,000? Why would he vote against that measure, which is only one of a number of measures to protect Canadian workers who are facing a hard time? How can he justify voting against an initiative that he has been promoting for a number of years?

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, the member keeps asking why we voted against the budget. We voted against the budget to get rid of the Conservatives, to put a better government in place that would make sure that Canadians receive the support they need, not the way the Conservatives have done. The government's plan is to take the money from Canadians and legalize the stealing that the Liberals did with respect to that plan. That is what the Conservatives are doing.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Mr. Speaker, that member and his party have provided absolutely zero in EI benefits for workers, and yet at the same time they blow hot and cold.

They oppose hiring additional staff to meet the demands. How can they possibly do that? What is the rationale behind that? Why would they oppose a budget that has a number of provisions to help those who need help most? How can that member stand in the House and say he opposes the budget at this particular time when the economy needs the very measures that we are proposing?

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the parliamentary secretary for sharing his time with me. It will be a tough act to follow with the knowledge that he has on this topic and the work that he has been doing on behalf of every Canadian in this country.

I welcome this opportunity to take part in this important debate initiated by the member for Hamilton Mountain, a member who I actually know quite well and respect and I appreciate her efforts on behalf of constituents. I just disagree with her politics on this particular item in the face of this global economic crisis.

I had the opportunity last night to visit Tsuneo Nishida, the Japanese Ambassador to Canada, who is an excellent representative of Japan. We had an excellent conversation and discussion about this being worldwide problem. Japan has unemployment issues as we have here. We have to understand that it is a global crisis, and not just Canada, but countries around the world, including our partners in Japan, are having the same difficulties.

Our government is very concerned about the plight of Canadians and those who have lost their jobs. We are determined to help them weather this storm and give them opportunities to acquire skills and to recover and adjust to the ever-changing demands of the global economy.

No Canadian worker is totally immune to the effects of this economic downturn. Yet the structural changes affecting the global economy mean that some communities have been hit worse than others. Indeed, some Canadians who have spent their whole working lives in the same industry now face the prospect of unemployment.

Those workers and their families face uncertainty. They worry about making ends meet and putting food on the table. They want to work and provide for their families. Canadians who have lost their jobs, or are at risk of losing them, have this government behind them and we stand up for them.

Changing industries and markets are inevitable in the global economy. While we cannot single-handedly bring jobs back to industries in decline, we are determined to help hardworking Canadians adjust to these changes in the global economy.

We believe in Canadian workers. We believe that those who have worked in the same industry for many years can learn new skills. We have faith in their ability to do so. These Canadians have decades of experience, and we take offence when members of the opposition say that older workers cannot be retrained and that older workers simply need to be bridged to retirement.

We believe in the potential of older workers across Canada. That is why, as part of Canada's economic action plan, we are investing close to $500 million over the next two years in measures to help these long-tenured workers facing job losses or unemployment during these difficult times.

Before I describe how these measures will work and whom they will benefit, let me provide some context. Research shows that structural changes affecting the Canadian and world economies are increasing the demand for a highly skilled and flexible workforce. This fact is driving the need for new and flexible approaches to how laid-off workers are trained.

Those who have worked a long time in a single industry have many assets and much experience, but they have specific job skills and are less transferrable to a new environment. Of all unemployed, those long-tenured workers are most likely to need skills upgrading. It is likely they need encouragement and incentives to gain those new skills that will help them, their families, and their communities prosper.

To thrive in the 21st century, our country needs workers who are able and willing to take their existing skills and expertise and quickly adapt them to a new context as the situation demands. We need workers who are ready to learn a new skill set altogether.

To that end, in partnership with the provinces and territories, our government is embarking on an initiative called the long-tenured workers pilot project. Through this project, we will extend benefit duration from the employment insurance program to long-tenured workers while they pursue training to embark on a profession in a new occupation or sector. We estimate about 40,000 Canadians will benefit from this pilot project.

Of course, even when they are armed with new skills, new jobs may not simply fall into their laps. That is why, in addition to extending benefits from the EI program during the training itself, this project will provide benefits for up to 12 weeks following the completion of training. This will give these individuals a financial cushion so that they can conduct their job search. All told, the pilot project will extend regular benefits up to 104 weeks.

In a complementary move, the economic action plan will help workers with severance and other separation payments to become eligible for earlier access to EI benefits if they use some or all of this severance to upgrade their skills or invest in training.

Through these measures, long-tenured workers can be eligible for up to two years of benefits under the long-tenured worker pilot project and can start receiving benefits sooner while receiving viable training to build new skills. That is truly a win-win result for Canadian workers and their families.

Many hard-working Canadians have held down good jobs for years and rarely, if ever, drawn on the EI program. Now when times are tough they deserve every opportunity to sharpen their skills without falling further behind. This pilot project will give them that chance.

As we can see, this government is taking action. Just today, as a matter of fact, the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development announced important enhancements to work-sharing agreements so more Canadians can continue working while their companies weather this temporary slowdown. The minister has extended work-sharing agreements by 14 weeks, to a maximum of 52 weeks, and increased access through greater flexibility and in the qualifying criteria.

Work sharing is designed to avoid layoffs by offering EI income benefits to qualifying workers to work a reduced work week while the employer recovers.

In the face of economic uncertainty, our economic action plan is designed to keep Canadians working and help unemployed Canadians get back to work and put our economy back on track while we do whatever it takes to help Canadians weather this economic storm.

We will pay special attention to those hard-working Canadians who need and want to start new careers so they can prosper in this global economy. We are delivering and helping Canadians in need.

While the NDP members like to propose uncosted, unaffordable solutions to the current economic crisis, our government is actually getting the job done. Yesterday in this place the reality was that the NDP members voted against helping 400,000 unemployed Canadians benefit from an additional five weeks of EI benefits. They voted against helping 50,000 unemployed Canadians who normally do not qualify for EI benefits get the training and skills they need to find a new job and provide for their families.

The NDP members voted against helping 100,000 people get additional funding and training to find new jobs and put food on the table for their families. They voted against helping 10,000 long-tenured auto, forestry and other workers get additional training and financial support they need to get back into the workforce.

That is a lot of voting against: no help for unemployed Canadians. If I were the NDP members I would look in the mirror hard before coming to this place and trying to tell Canadians that it is this government that is not helping Canadians. It is the NDP that is not helping Canadians today.

However, something good did happen yesterday. This government, with the help of other members of the House, voted yes to Canadians and passed the budget implementation bill at third reading. That is good news for Canadians. That means we are going to take a big step closer to implementing our economic action plan and providing support to Canadians who need it right now. The NDP members had nothing whatsoever to contribute to that vote in favour of Canadians.

With that context, I would like to end this debate and I thank the House for this opportunity.

[Joe Volpe, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot wait to hear a learned position on EI. Therefore, I am going to wait for my colleague, the hon. member for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, to speak on EI.

The government member talked about this plan for the unemployed. We have given the government already an opportunity to avail itself of monies in order to create jobs. He talked about job creation. The auto industry in Ontario is devastated. The forestry industry everywhere is shedding jobs by the minute. Even now, in high-value research and development in the scientific medical fields, we have companies laying off graduates from PhD and MA programs.

The member is talking about an adjustment program. I want to know, and every other Canadian wants to know, what are the specifics of a plan that the government has in place to create jobs? We have given the government the money. We have given it the authority. It should show some responsibility and accountability and create the jobs.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the member is very good at making a loud comment without making any sense.

Yesterday, he stood in the House and supported our economic action plan, an action plan that would put billions of dollars in the hands of provinces, municipalities and communities in order to create jobs through infrastructure development. I guess he did not read it or understand it. That plan is what will create jobs in my community, in Ontario and across the country.

It is a plan that will work. It is doable. We have support from all the provinces. We have support from every municipality. We will make it happen. As soon as we can get that money out the door, we will create jobs for Canadians across the country.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member and I are in neighbouring communities and he offered up the respect that he has for my colleague for Hamilton Mountain. We return that. He is a hardworking member, but he is wrong.

The Liberals have an awful lot of nerve getting up and criticizing anyone on EI, given the fact that they are the ones who changed the eligibility requirements, which has denied tens of thousands of Canadians their opportunity to receive it. They took the $54 billion in the EI fund and used it for operating costs. Therefore, they have no ground here.

One thing we have asked for in our motion is an increase in the amount of money that an unemployed worker would get every week. When the minister was asked why there were no increases, her comments in the House were—

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Barry Devolin]

The hon. member for Burlington.