Mr. Speaker, that was an interesting question and it goes to the other issue that people raise with me when they call. They ask me why the government thinks that working people in Atlantic Canada are lazy. They ask me why the government thinks they are all crooks. They ask me why the government thinks they are ignorant and that they cannot and do not want to work, that they do not want a job. I have told these people who have raised these questions with me that the government tells us that each and every day. It tells us that the people of Atlantic Canada do not want to work, that unemployed Atlantic Canadians are engaging in fraud, that they are bad people, that they need to go out west somewhere in order to find a job and that, if the people of Atlantic Canada are not able to get answers to the questions they have because they cannot even get through on the 1-800 number, it is because they are not trying hard enough or they simply do not understand.
In the House of Commons on February 5th, 2013. See this statement in context.