Bonnie Brown

[Employment Insurance, March 19th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the member's question reveals an attitude toward our young people with which this side disagrees. That attitude suggests that youth should receive more EI. On the other hand we think young Canadians should be given the opportunity to go to school and to get a good job. That is how we are trying to help them.

Most Canadians share these values with us. The 143,000 new jobs for young Canadians is the best performance in youth employment in 20 years. Let us give credit where credit is due and let us allow young people to have an optimistic—

[Employment Insurance, March 19th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, it is a simple fact that when unemployment goes down the number of claims and benefits paid out also goes down.

We think this report has some good news in it too. It tells us that our measures to help people are working. The 450,000 new jobs that were created last year made it the best year in a decade. Of those 143,000 were for youth and 300,000 were for women.

If the member wants to know what we are doing for youth and women, this is what we are doing: we are helping them by getting them jobs.

[Transitional Jobs Fund, March 19th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I remind the questioner and all my colleagues in the House that funds from this program are available in every area of high unemployment.

Shawinigan is one of those areas. It has a set of criteria. Those criteria were met by the Shawinigan project. One of the criteria is that all local MPs are consulted.

By his question, the questioner is suggesting that MPs should not be consulted. If that is the case, he is expressing a total lack of faith in his colleagues in his party and in all of us. It is a lack of faith that we on this side do not share.

[St. Joseph, March 19th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, on Wednesday last many Canadians of various cultural backgrounds, including Mr. Speaker, came together to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, the feast day of the patron saint of Ireland.

Today, March 19, is the feast of St. Joseph, the patron saint of Canada. He is also the patron saint of fathers and the patron saint of workers.

His feast day has special meaning for all those who do work, both paid and unpaid, for all fathers and indeed for all Canadians.

St. Joseph has been honoured in Canada since the early days of our history, most visibly through the work of the Sisters of St. Joseph. They have built hospitals and nursed the sick for more than a century. They have taught young boys and girls in elementary schools but they are most famous for the education of young women in both high schools and universities.

Several women in this Chamber are products of the education provided by these dedicated nuns.

On the occasion of his feast I wish the Sisters of St. Joseph and all Canadians a happy St. Joseph's Day.

[An Act To Amend The Act Of Incorporation Of The Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation Of Mackenzie, March 18th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, let me assure the hon. member that the department tries to treat all clients with fairness, understanding and compassion. Each case is assessed individually and all circumstances brought to light are examined and considered in a compassionate manner.

The opposition member says that the people he met felt like they were being treated as criminals. Perhaps this is attributable to the fact that some people put in a claim for employment insurance four or five years ago when the rules were different and received benefits. It is possible they put in one recently with the new rules and found they did not qualify.

Sometimes when people are told no, they take it very personally. No one is trying to treat anyone like a criminal. However, the employees of the Department of Human Resources Development in the various Canada employment centres are obligated to implement the law as it stands. It is unfortunate if some people are feeling very sensitive and taking it personally.

The member also said that the rate of women who do not qualify has risen by 20%. He is reversing a figure that is in today's monitoring and assessment report. In fact it is not women who do not qualify. It is that the rate of women who have applied for employment insurance has dropped by 20%. That could mean that many more women have jobs.

There are 300,000 more women working in the past year than were working prior to that. That might account for the reason fewer are putting in claims.

[Competition Act, 1998, March 10th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada is sensitive to the needs of seasonal workers. Their needs are one of the reasons we changed the employment insurance system to an hours based system in the first place. Today seasonal workers can benefit from having all their long hours of work count under employment insurance.

Another reason we implemented reforms to the EI act was to reduce dependency on EI as a regular income support program and instead give people the tools they need to get back to work. That is why we invested $2.1 billion in active employment measures to help people find jobs.

Now that the labour market development agreement with New Brunswick has been signed, we are providing that province with almost $240 million over three years to help people get back to work. The province is now responsible for the delivery of these programs.

Last year the Department of Human Resources Development made available up to $5 million in transitional assistance to the New Brunswick government to help workers affected by the gap, the so-called gappers of whom the member speaks. In addition, the Government of New Brunswick has announced its own $5 million seasonal workers adjustment initiative.

In 1994 about 7,500 seasonal workers were affected by the gap. Since then this number has been on the decline. Based on the number of participants in the program last year, it is estimated that about 2,000 people were affected by the gap in New Brunswick.

I can understand why the member opposite is disputing this figure because according to her definition a gapper is a person who does not get EI before his or her job starts. I assure the House that no Canadian gets EI before his or her job starts. They get EI when their job ends.

Our general strategy seems to be working because over 35,000 New Brunswickers have been added to the labour force since October 1993. We feel this is a fact to be celebrated.

[Competition Act, 1998, March 10th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the government understands that some families who are unemployed or living on EI live in difficult situations. We have tried to be sensitive to their circumstances. That is why for example we introduced the family income supplement which tops up the EI benefits of about 220,000 low income claimants with children, two-thirds of whom are women.

I must ask the member opposite to recognize that the overall objective of the EI program is more than just giving the unemployed EI benefits for as long as possible. Instead, it means ensuring that people can have the skills and opportunity to work and can feed their own families. Merely giving people income support and keeping them on the economic sidelines year after year will not improve their lives or enable them to benefit from new opportunities in our economy.

We are trying to help those people get the skills needed to earn a full income because we believe this is the truly compassionate thing to do.

While EI is an essential part of our social safety net, it is not the only solution. Our net is strong and fair because different programs exist to meet different needs.

EI is supported by a number of other programs to help unemployed Canadians get a job. For example, there is the $7 billion the government puts in for low income families through the Canadian child tax benefit. For youth we invest $155 million every year to help young Canadians get on the job experience. For people with disabilities we invest, along with the provinces, $430 million to help them find and keep a job. For those trying to adjust to the new working conditions of the new economy we have set aside $2.1 billion for active measures.

This is how we are showing compassion, by ensuring a comprehensive set of measures exists to meet different needs. The fact that unemployment is at its lowest level in over eight years tells us that our approach is working and we hope the trend will continue.

[Poverty, March 5th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, at the current time there is no agreement in this country about how to appropriately measure poverty.

Some groups think that the LICO measure is too high. Some think it is not high enough. What most people seem to agree on is that we need to broaden our understanding of poverty to better address the situation of low income Canadians. That is why we are working with the provinces to develop a market based basket measure which takes into account the cost of people's essential needs.

Any new measure that is developed would supplement, not replace, the current measure like the low income cutoff.

[International Women's Day, March 5th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, this year the theme for International Women's Day will be “Going Strong—Celebrating Older Women”. This theme was chosen to coincide with the International Year of Older Persons as declared by the United Nations for 1999.

Secretary General Koffi Annan has said “As we reflect on a half century of human rights advocacy, and as we resolve to do better where we have failed or fallen short, the situation of older women warrants special attention”.

Women make up a large share of our senior population and, while many are active and independent, older women are among the poorest people in Canada.

Without the resources and support they need, these women are faced with significant obstacles to independence, health and the ability to remain active members of society.

As we prepare together to celebrate International Women's Day next Monday, March 8, let us rededicate this House and ourselves to the challenge of promoting fairness, equity and respect for older women in Canada.

[Division No. 325, March 2nd, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the government has been saying since October, and I reaffirm today, that the best available information from Statistics Canada shows that 78% of unemployed Canadians who have lost or quit a job with just cause were eligible for EI benefits. This 78% is based on a new survey by Statistics Canada specifically designed to answer questions about EI coverage. Indeed the survey is called the Employment Insurance Coverage Survey.

A study released by the department in the fall concludes that the BU ratio, which is the number the member opposite chooses to use, that is the 42%, is the indicator used by the member to confuse and frighten workers but is not, I repeat not, a good indicator of coverage effectiveness by the EI system because it includes all unemployed Canadians irrespective of their attachment to the labour market or whether they have paid into the EI program or not.

Does the hon. member suggest that all unemployed Canadians should automatically receive EI? For example, should someone who has never worked a day in his or her life be entitled to EI? Should someone who decides to quit a job in order to go back to school be entitled to EI? If someone is self-employed and does not pay premiums, should he or she be entitled to EI? If someone is being paid severance pay, should he or she receive EI at the same time?

Unemployed Canadians who need help and who are not eligible for EI are supported by a range of other programs such as the youth employment strategy, the Canadian opportunities strategy, the transitional jobs fund, the post-TAGS program, other active employment measures which help people get the skills they need to get back to work, and the new hires program which helps employers to hire more young Canadians.