Michel Gauthier

[Employment Insurance, February 15th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, if it gives the minister pleasure, he can come and try his hand in Roberval if he likes.

Tomorrow, with the budget speech, will the Minister of Human Resources Development understand that it is not the Minister of Finance who is the focus of people's concerns, but rather the Minister of Human Resources Development, whose effectiveness will be determined by his ability to return to the unemployed and to workers their due?

[Employment Insurance, February 15th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, because the Bloc Quebecois defends people who are unemployed, because the Bloc Quebecois demands only justice for those who contribute to employment insurance, the minister treats us as old fogeys. We are old fogeys because we seek justice, because we want an honest government.

I would ask the minister, if he does not want to meet the same fate as his predecessor, Doug Young, who was shut out by the people of New Brunswick because he refused to listen to them, whether it would not be wiser for him to be attentive—

[King Of Jordan's Funeral, February 9th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister was so prepared to go that the opposition was notified at 8 a.m. and the Prime Minister at 10 a.m., Ottawa time.

Will the Prime Minister admit that the only thing we know for sure in this whole affair is that the decision not to travel to Jordan had been made before he even left for Vancouver?

[King Of Jordan's Funeral, February 9th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has been trying for the past couple of days to rationalize his error in judgement in failing to attend King Hussein's funeral because he could not get there in time.

How could the Prime Minister give such a lame excuse, when the Liberal members of the Canadian delegation had been on standby in Ottawa since Friday, ready to leave for Jordan on short notice?

[The Late Denise Leblanc-Bantey, February 9th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, a remarkable person, an ardent sovereignist and promoter of women's rights, Denise Leblanc-Bantey, died yesterday. The Bloc Quebecois wishes to pay tribute to her and thus perhaps dispel some of our sadness at her passing.

Born into a family whose livelihood was fishing, and a teacher by profession, Denise was elected MLA for Îles-de-la-Madeleine for the first time on November 15, 1976. She brought a breath of fresh air to politics, as only someone who hailed from the Islands could do. Re-elected in April 1981, she was appointed Minister of the Public Service with responsibility for the status of women.

Having worked with her in Quebec's National Assembly, I can speak to the exceptionally energetic and dignified manner in which she fulfilled her duties as an MLA and as a minister, as well as her extraordinary ability as a woman to achieve the perfect combination of professionalism, enthusiasm and humanity in both her public and private lives.

Thank you, Denise, and au revoir.

[Human Resources Development Canada, February 8th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, according to the auditor general, the value of employment insurance fraud could reach $140 million. At its Web site, the department talks of fraud, overpayments and fines of $198 million. The two amounts do not match.

How does the minister explain to the unemployed, who are being harrassed at employment centres, that the figure to be recovered is three times higher than the higher of these two figures?

[Human Resources Development Canada, February 4th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, would the minister get serious for a minute and acknowledge that a memo signed by a director general of investigations at Human Resources Development Canada, not Human Resources Development Japan, but Human Resources Development Canada, clearly indicates a cut of an estimated 150 jobs in Prince Edward Island alone? We saw no directives for elsewhere, but it is a lot more.

Will he acknowledge that managers get bonuses and that they are pressured—I myself have seen documents—to meet the minister's quotas?

[Human Resources Development Canada, February 4th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, this is the first time in the recorded history that a government has established recovery quotas three times higher than the potential value of frauds in a department. In addition, this is the first time employees are being threatened with the loss of their job.

My question is for the Minister of Human Resources Development. Will he acknowledge that Human Resources Development Canada managers have performance bonuses and that their performance is appraised on the basis of the number of investigations done and recoveries made?

[Employment Insurance, February 3rd, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, in a memo dated July 31, 1998 and addressed to the PEI regional director for employment insurance, departmental officials were congratulated for exceeding the target of $53 million, since this will result in the saving of 150 jobs that the government had planned on eliminating.

My question for the minister is this: How do we call a government that threatens to eliminate 150 jobs if its public servants do not make sufficient cuts to the employment insurance benefits for the unemployed?

[Social Union, February 2nd, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister of Canada has a problem, if he cannot tell the difference between someone with the status of premier and someone who is a leader of the opposition.

To those of us on this side of the House, this is a bit reminiscent of the Chateau Laurier kitchen plot of 1981. Not a good sign for Quebec.

We are asking the Prime Minister what guarantee we have that there will not be a repeat of the usual prime ministerial strategy of negotiating with everybody except Quebec, in order to isolate Quebec.