Pierre Pettigrew

[Millennium Scholarships, May 25th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to point out that the Government of Quebec was the one that broke off negotiations 10 days ago. It even cancelled the schedule of the two days of negotiations that were planned.

The hon. opposition member has just confirmed what we have been saying here in the government since the start, which is that their only desire was to have the right to withdraw with full compensation. Quebec has no intention to negotiate. There was no desire whatsoever to commit to anything that could have lead to an arrangement between the two governments.

I believe the hon. member has just given absolutely clear proof of this. He is saying the exact same thing, while the Prime Minister had already stated that this was not open to negotiation.

[Employment Insurance, May 25th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity to travel across the country, to meet with Canadians and discuss the impact of our reforms with them.

Before I left and upon my return, I noticed that members of the opposition promised to put to us in this House any question they may have. They were very active last week and we will be pleased to hear what they have to say.

The unemployed know full well that the purpose of the transitional job fund, along with the active measures, is to get them back to work as quickly as possible and to help them once they are back in the labour force.

[Employment Insurance, May 25th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, what the member also continually fails to mention is that women who were not covered in the past are covered now.

Women who were on maternity leave or who decided to raise a family now have access to active measures and training to which they did not have access before, once they have raised their families and decide to re-enter the job market.

Our reform seeks to strike a balance. Once women have raised their families, they are now entitled to assistance in re-entering the job market because of EI reform and they are glad of it.

[Employment Insurance, May 25th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, what I was attempting to say, when I was interrupted by opposition members, who are unable to face up to the facts of this EI reform, is that 500,000 part-time workers, largely women therefore, were not covered under the system the Bloc Quebecois keeps wanting to bring back.

[Employment Insurance, May 25th, 1998]

Up until now, the number of women on leave and women who worked part time—

[Employment Insurance, May 25th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, our reform has substantially improved women's access to maternity leave.

[Employment Insurance, May 25th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I have stated repeatedly in the House that we are concerned about the participation rate of the unemployed in our employment insurance system, and we have asked Statistics Canada to determine why this is so.

I would appreciate it if the Bloc Quebecois also paid attention to the numerous youth programs we have developed. Instead of forcing them unto employment insurance, we provide them with internship and community work opportunities to help them get into the workforce. That is what we are doing for our young people, and I think this is much more helpful.

[Employment Insurance, May 25th, 1998]

For instance, as a result of the EI reform, we are more focused on a number of active measures. Members across the way never discuss the reform as a whole or other initiatives which help Canadians get back to work instead of staying on EI.

[Employment Insurance, May 25th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, in working on this employment insurance reform, we have tried to strike a balance in the best interest of all Canadians. We believe that this balance has improved the situation of Canadians with respect to job market.

[Millennium Scholarships, May 13th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, what I can say is that we want to work with the Government of Quebec. That is why we are now in the process of conducting negotiations.

We are not negotiating in public, as members opposite have regrettably begun to do.

As soon as the Quebec Liberal Party introduced a resolution in the National Assembly, it was rejected out of hand by the Bouchard government, which did not even want to look at the promising initiative undertaken by the Quebec Liberal Party through Mr. Gautrin's resolution.