Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary's response is certainly a matter for thought, but I have a few questions.
The parliamentary secretary said that people would be offered appropriate employment, but the definition has been removed from the act. There seems to be a lot of discretion as to what “appropriate” actually means now. I would like to better understand that. Are we leaving it to the courts to decide or will the ministry propose a definition?
Also, if jobs are being offered within a reasonable distance, why is it that in my riding people have been offered jobs that are three, four or sixteen hours away from their homes and those are considered jobs that are within their region? I believe the change the Conservatives proposed was within an hour away from a person's home, but now we are talking about someone taking a ferry and travelling incredible distances to get a minimum wage job. How does that help increase the wealth of the regions? How does that help anyone really?