Mr. Speaker, I will certainly relay for the member for Madawaska—Restigouche some of the things that we have been doing.
We are concerned about the job losses being experienced by Canadians but let me be clear that our government is absolutely committed to helping Canadians through this time and we will continue to help them through this difficult time.
Our government is making unprecedented investments to help vulnerable and unemployed Canadians. Among other things, we have extended EI benefits by five weeks, which is more than double the two weeks advocated by the opposition. We have extended the work-sharing program. More than 100,000 Canadians are being protected by working with Canadian employers to share costs and avoid layoffs.
We were and are investing $500 million in skills training and upgrading for long-tenured workers, $1 billion in further training through the EI program and $500 million in training for those who do not qualify for EI. We made changes that will process claims faster and cut red tape for employers. To do so, we have invested more than $60 million for processing, including hiring additional staff to manage the workload and to implement the budget measures. We are monitoring the effectiveness of these measures to ensure they are effectively helping Canadians.
What we will not do is implement the Liberals' 360 hour, 45 day work year idea. The opposition members can say what they want about this scheme but that fact is that it is irresponsible at this time. It is a proposal that would result in a massive increase in job-killing payroll taxes that would hurt workers and businesses alike, especially small businesses that already run on tight margins. The Liberals now say that this scheme will not require higher taxes and that it will come from general revenue. However, where does general revenue come from? It comes from taxes and Canadian workers in businesses.
This irresponsible proposal would not help Canadians find new jobs or get new skills. It would simply add billions to the tax burden on Canadians. However, that is not surprising given that the Liberal leader is borrowing an ill-conceived NDP idea. The NDP have never seen a tax they did not like. However, the Liberal leader is also ignoring the Liberal Party's previous position in this regard from the last time they were in government. The former Liberal government said:
--significantly reducing entrance requirements...is not likely to equate to substantially increased EI coverage, particularly for the long-term unemployed.
In fact, on April 1, 2008, at the HUMA committee, the Liberal EI expert and human resources critic, the member for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, said:
It's my view that if you get rid of the regional rates and there are changes forced on the EI system because of the economic circumstances, those in [high unemployment] regions will be hurt disproportionately.
Those are not my words. Those are the words of the Liberal critic for EI, the man responsible for advising the Liberal leader on EI policy.
The Liberal leader also said very recently what a Liberal government would do. He said, “We will have to raise taxes”. It is that simple. It is wrong-headed and it is simply the wrong thing to do right now.
This government's economic action plan does help Canadians get new skills for new jobs and is helping Canadians through these difficult economic times. Unlike the opposition, on this side of the House we will not force all working Canadians and businesses to pay more tax at this critical time for a wrong-headed proposal.