Madam Speaker, on February 17, I rose in the House and asked when the government would finally help Toronto families deal with rising inflation and higher gas prices and help them to make ends meet. I asked specifically about when the government would come up with a real jobs plan, a plan that would provide jobs to help support families instead of low-wage, part-time, precarious jobs that many families now depend on.
The government has not created jobs in Toronto. The people of my riding of Scarborough Southwest know and live that reality every single day of the week. There are fewer and fewer good jobs in Toronto and therefore more and more families struggling to make ends meet. When I asked my question to the government, I received a glib, meaningless, puerile response from the Minister of State (Finance).
The unemployment rate now stands at 1.4 million Canadians, and three-quarters of the new jobs created since May 2008, unlike what the government would say, have been part-time. With the cuts coming as a result of the recent federal budget, 102,000 more people may be added to the ranks of the unemployed. This is simply shameful.
However, what is even more shameful is the Minister of Finance's ignorant and haughty attitude toward those who are looking for employment, stating there is no bad job. The only bad job is not having a job, according to the minister. Maybe that is why the government is so reluctant to create a job plan that works, because to the Conservatives there are simply no bad jobs.
Part-time work. Good job. Job with no security. Good job. Little to no benefits? That is a good job, too. Unfair wages and terrible conditions? That must be a great job. The government has gone from bad to worse, from being out of touch with the needs of Canadians to outright insulting them.
As New Democrats, we have a practical affordable plan to create good full-time jobs, offering targeted tax credits for new hires, implementing investments to help businesses that create jobs, investing in job creation infrastructure and ensuring that foreign investment keeps good jobs in Canada.
The government has failed once again by making the wrong choices in this Trojan Horse budget bill. I will touch on some of the terrible things we are missing from the budget, one of which includes financing for the RADARSAT Constellation program, which is an excellent program that would help Canada maintain its leading industries in satellites.
The RADARSAT Constellation program would put three satellites in space that would help to monitor the Arctic for sovereignty and safety. It would help to monitor our shorelines, and it would help to monitor icebergs coming down from the caps. There are all kinds of wonderful applications for the RADARSAT Constellation program put on by MDA.
In fact, on top of some of these things the RADARSAT-2 satellite, which is in space right now, has also been contracted out to other countries when they have encountered natural disasters. The U.S. government contracted it to provide monitoring for Hurricane Katrina. MDA was also hired to take pictures to monitor the BP oil spill in the gulf.
The applications for this kind of Canadian technology are absolutely endless. However, the government is dithering and refusing to sign a contract. MDA can actually build the satellites. This is costing us good solid jobs in engineering and construction.
It is absolutely an affront to what is supposed to be an innovation budget. We on this side of the House want to see our leading industries supported by the government, industries like MDA, Bombardier and countless ones that I cannot get into tonight.
This is the third time I have risen in adjournment proceedings to ask questions in this regard, and last week the responses from the parliamentary secretary left more than—