Lost his last election, in 2006, with 38% of the vote.
Employment Insurance Reform March 12th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, last year, the Bloc Quebecois criticized me for not understanding the EI reform and went on about it in the House. Now I am being blamed for understanding it too well and sounding like a technocrat.
What I can say is that we are keeping a close eye on the impacts of our EI reform. We feel that Canadians deserve a service adapted to the contemporary labour market and we are going to continue to serve Canadians well with the reform we introduced last year.
Employment March 11th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, the member has had the opportunity to meet with some of my officials. I know she presented her case at that time. I understand that my officials have asked her to present more information to support her case.
I will be happy to look into it more carefully when she has provided the information we need.
Employment Insurance March 10th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Acadie—Bathurst would do well to start learning about his own region. The employment insurance participation rate in the Atlantic region is 75%. The participation rate in the province of New Brunswick is over 80%.
The problem as he describes it may not even exist in his own region.
Employment Insurance March 10th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Acadie—Bathurst for his question.
I have already stated on a number of occasions, including last week at Rivière-du-Loup, that I am concerned by the fact that the proportion of EI recipients is only 42%, when it used to be 80%.
Before making any decision whatsoever, we must have a proper grasp of the figures and I have yet to receive an explanation. Once we have understood the reality, we will take corrective action.
Disabilities March 10th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, of course there is an element of confidentiality. I would not begin to discuss the precise file of a Canadian citizen in the House.
I will look into the file. I will look into the situation and I will make sure that we do the proper thing.
Disabilities March 10th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, of course all Canadians are quite proud that the United Nations recognized our country and our great efforts toward disabled Canadians.
The Prime Minister received recognition for the work and the progress we have made as far as disabled people in Canada are concerned.
I commend the work of the Minister of Finance as well who worked with our ministry of human resources. I have been able to promote a number of very positive improvements for disabled Canadians in the country.
Employment Insurance March 10th, 1998
But if people want us to return to an obsolete system which penalized our country's workers and its economy, that is not what we are going to do. We are going to continue to serve Canadians properly.
Employment Insurance March 10th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, we are greatly concerned by the fact that participation in the employment insurance system has dropped, and I have acknowledged this in the House on numerous occasions.
This is something we need to understand more thoroughly before decisions are made, because that is how we operate. We need to understand why this drop has occurred, before we can find an effective solution to the problem.
Employment Insurance March 10th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, the improvements we have made to the employment insurance system met the aspirations of women, who are far more likely to be part-time workers.
What we are pleased to have accomplished is that people can now accumulate hours worked, sometimes in two or three different jobs, so that they are insured, where they were not in the past.
Employment Insurance March 10th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, I find it staggering that the government is being criticized for the additional million jobs in Canada we now have. This means our economy is running smoothly.
Second, people on welfare in fact do have the opportunity to benefit from active measures, because we broadened access to these measures, as people, whether they be on welfare when they qualify or on employment insurance when they are unemployed, want active measures to be able to return to the labour market.