Lost his last election, in 2006, with 38% of the vote.
Atlantic Groundfish Strategy June 4th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, I do not think I have ever contradicted myself on this. I have always said that we were concerned about the post-TAGS situation starting in August.
Our people have worked very hard. In the past two weeks, some of our officials have visited the Atlantic provinces, where they are holding consultations to explore certain avenues; so we are working in partnership with the provinces in an effort to address the situation.
Points Of Order June 3rd, 1998
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. During the heat of debate and my answer I confused the name of two companies. I meant to say that it was BPS Imaging that has been paying its 121 workers for seven months, not Cape Shore.
I want to correct the record. The TJF is a very successful program for which we have leveraged a lot of private—
Maple Syrup Industry June 3rd, 1998
Mr. Speaker, as soon as the ice storm was over, everyone commented on how extremely efficient and prompt our government was in implementing a $40 million emergency fund, to which we added subsequently and which was intended particularly to assist maple syrup producers and others in difficulty because of the ice storm.
The fund was so popular that, in Quebec, we exceeded the envelope that we had in mind when the fund was announced. This shows how well the program worked.
Job Creation June 3rd, 1998
Mr. Speaker, there is absolutely no scandal. The member has been making false statements in the House all the time saying that the Cape Shore people had not been paid a cent. They have been paid for seven months by our program.
The vast exaggerations the member is bringing to the House are not going to change our mind. We have gone through serious assessments of the transitional job fund and we are very proud that out of 700 projects there were perhaps problems in 6 or 7 of them that did not work.
Transitional Jobs Fund June 2nd, 1998
Mr. Speaker, I challenge the member to say those words outside of the House, to repeat them. It is absolutely extraordinary to criticize people and to put them in the gutter.
Our government has objective criteria and we follow the process very closely. We are very proud to have created more than 30,000 jobs with the transitional jobs fund.
Transitional Jobs Fund June 2nd, 1998
Mr. Speaker, I will look into the particular case that the member has just raised.
The the transitional jobs fund has been very well used by this government. There have been many consultations. Members of the House, whether they are on the opposition benches or on the government benches, are being consulted. Provincial administrations are being consulted on every project. There are objective criteria.
To create jobs in areas where unemployment is very high we will continue to work hard.
Employment Insurance June 2nd, 1998
Mr. Speaker, I am always pleased to co-operate with the Minister of Finance.
I was delighted when, last November, we were able to announce a 20-cent reduction in EI premiums instead of the expected 10-cent reduction. We have reduced these premiums four years in a row.
We are cautious managers and we believe that the unemployed will continue to be served well by the Canadian system, especially when it comes to helping them re-enter the workforce. That is what people expect from us.
Employment Insurance June 2nd, 1998
Mr. Speaker, what I have stated is our government's position.
We have known all along that it would be extremely important to assess the impact of such a fundamental reform of the employment insurance system on all citizens, to make sure that the system is serving them well and generating the desired type of employment in those regions where unemployment is the highest.
However, no positive or constructive suggestions to help unemployed Canadians re-enter the workforce have come from across the way. All we are asked to do is to keep them on EI as long as possible.
Supply June 1st, 1998
Mr. Speaker, I can assure you of one thing. Our government is sensitive to the concerns of these Canadians. The reason we have established a transitional jobs fund is to create jobs in areas where unemployment is too high. That is why we want to invest more money in high employment areas.
We have seen that, so far, in Atlantic and eastern Canada, our reform has helped a lot of unemployed people find work to accumulate the additional number of weeks needed to maintain their level of benefits. I think this incentive to find work seems to be having positive results so far.
Supply June 1st, 1998
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to see that the Reform Party is now hinting that maybe we should make it easier to give benefits to Canadians. I do not know exactly what is the Reform position. It is the first time I have heard such a statement from the Reform Party which normally thinks we are not tough enough on unemployed Canadians and that we should have even more difficult access to the employment insurance aspect.
In the case of the woman he raised, she did not have the number of hours to qualify. It is pretty obvious that if a worker has not reached the number of hours to be covered by the system at this stage, they cannot have unemployment benefits.
When she has worked the additional 52 hours she needs to qualify, whether in this job or some other job, she will be covered by the employment insurance system because every hour counts and we will add it to what she has already worked.