Diane Finley

[Human Resources and Social Development, September 26th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, we are spending over $80 million a year on literacy programs for adults, which is something to be proud of. What we are learning to do is refocus on the federal jurisdiction.

I find it curious that the member opposite is defending the position of sponsoring post-secondary education when it was his government that cut $4 billion from PSE.

[Social Housing, September 26th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, CMHC, through its mandate, spends over $2 billion each year on low income housing. We are very proud of that. This year we added $1.4 billion in affordable housing right across the country, including on and off reserve.

[Older Workers, September 26th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, as we have said in this House many times, I suggest that the member check the record.

During budget 2006 we committed to a feasibility study on ways to help long term unemployed older workers over the long term. We will be proceeding with that in the very near future.

[Youth, September 26th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, when the summer career placement program was brought in eight years ago, it was intended to help students who could not find jobs easily. Over eight years of Liberal government, that program just went crazy, so that corporations that could well afford to hire students and would have hired them without the program were hiring students.

We are going to help the kids who really need to get the jobs. We are going to help the kids, not the cronies.

[Youth, September 26th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member really should stop mixing her words and wixing her mords, because in fact the youth employment strategy has not been cut. We will continue to provide help for youth at risk.

What we are doing is saving taxpayers' money on summer job supports and subsidies for corporations that would have hired the students anyway. We are going to help the students who really need help because of where they live or other barriers they face.

[Employment Insurance, September 26th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, when the economy is good, jobs are good. We do not have as many unemployed. We are proud of that.

What we want to do is make sure that going forward we have EI revenues with the claims. We hope those claims are low because then we can reinvest in Canada.

[Employment Insurance, September 26th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, as I am sure the hon. member is aware, we have a new procedure in place with a tribunal, with an EI commissioner and actuarial advice that will set new EI rates based on expected claims.

We had a better economy than we expected last year. That is something to celebrate. That is why the rates came down last year. That is why we expect them to come down this year.

[Older Workers, September 25th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would suggest that the hon. member should avoid rumours. If we want to learn something in this town, we can listen to all the rumours. If we ask three people, we will get five opinions. What he needs to do is to be patient, wait for the facts that will be coming forward, we hope, in the near future.

[Older Workers, September 25th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, during the budget of 2006 we committed to go forward with a feasibility study to look at the long term possibilities of ways to help older workers, as evidenced in Quebec and right across the country.

In the meantime, we are looking at ways to assist them in the shorter term and as the Prime Minister has just said, we encourage the members opposite to wait for the announcement.

[Child Care, September 22nd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am so glad the hon. member brought this report up because this report just underlines the 13 years of neglect by the previous Liberal government when it comes to child care.

I am so very proud of Canada's new government for taking action immediately with our two step, universal child care plan. Parents of children under six are now receiving $100 a month to help toward their child care choices that meet their needs.