Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join the debate and speak in support of Motion No. 285 brought forward to the House by the member for Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour.
The motion calls for the implementation of a genuine income support program for older workers who lose their jobs. Such a program could assist them in making the transition from active employment to collecting benefits through the Canada pension plan.
The Liberal Party has always been supportive of quality initiatives that respond to the needs of Canada's older workers. I am sure all of us are aware of people, hard-working Canadians, who are unable to secure employment in today's difficult job market.
Any and all governments have a responsibility and an obligation to ensure that Canada's system of support for older workers addresses all of their needs.
We need to look at a system of support that includes retraining, job search assistance, possibly even relocation assistance and certainly income support. The reality is that there are older workers who will not want to be retrained for any number of reasons; they may not want to relocate for any number of reasons, one of which, for many, would be age. To exclude income support will create a situation where those individuals who are most vulnerable are excluded from federal support measures.
No unemployed older worker should have to contemplate a future in which there are no opportunities and no support. As I said earlier, I am sure we are all aware of older workers who have had a very difficult time when they have lost their jobs.
I know of an individual whose name is Gabriel who in fact found himself on hard times, out of work, with a wife who was sick, without any kind of drug support program and with two children. He could not find employment. For that particular individual it was embarrassing to have to come to a representative and ask for help.
It should not be embarrassing. These people are not losing jobs of their own accord. It is not by choice that they are out of work. I think it is incumbent on all of us, particularly this government, to make sure that there are measures put in place to help him through these difficult times.
Unemployment is a traumatic experience at any age. The current economic crisis has caused particular hardship for older workers right across our country and certainly in Newfoundland and Labrador, the province that I am from.
With the dramatic loss of jobs in the manufacturing sector, individuals who have worked the same job for 20, 30 or 40 years and who expected to be in that job until they retired are now out of work through no fault of their own. These are people who want to work but who are now unemployed because of closures and downsizing as a result of the global economic crisis. Although many older workers are highly experienced, they are finding it challenging to obtain employment.
Programs that offer training, employment assistance and skill upgrades will be beneficial to many of the unemployed, both older and younger workers. However, we know that older workers demand special consideration. We cannot ignore those individuals who have contributed to their communities, the economy and their own financial well-being for many years only to now find themselves unemployed when they are on the verge of retirement.
People in the riding of Random—Burin—St. George's know the importance and the necessity of employment support programs. It is a riding that is home to many older workers. I represent a riding with a population that is older than the national average, that is largely rural and as a result, again through no choice of their own, for most of whom employment is seasonal in nature.
There is no doubt that older workers in rural areas will have more difficulty finding jobs when they are displaced. When a plant closes in a single-industry community, we often see young families relocate for employment, but older residents who have spent their entire lives in that community find it much more difficult to move. They own their own home. They own their vehicle if they have one. They own what they have. All of their earthly possessions they own. They have worked very hard to acquire these particular assets.
Asking them to uproot and move to another province at a time when they may not even find employment in that other province, to take on a mortgage, to take on the responsibility of a car, to have to find a means of earning a living, is very difficult for someone who is at an age where retraining may be difficult for them and relocating even much more difficult.
In the riding of Random--Burin--St. George's many residents have to leave home in search of employment. It is not uncommon for people throughout Newfoundland and Labrador to have to leave home to find employment. We have witnessed many people leaving home, leaving their families behind in order to provide for that family. To bring the family and to have to buy a home or rent a home would not be worth their while in terms of being able to actually provide for their family.
These people, many of them in their mid-50s, early 60s, move away and leave their families behind. They come home after three or four weeks of employment, spend a week depending on the arrangement that has been made, and then go back to their work, whether it is in Alberta, Ontario, up north, or some other part of the country.
This economic crisis will leave a string of ghost towns right across the country, if these people decide to take their families with them, unless the government takes more forward looking action that looks at the needs of the entire community, and particularly the needs of older workers who have been laid off and have not been able to secure new employment. It is a serious issue for rural communities in particular. We are indeed going to see many of our communities fall by the wayside.
There are residents in the riding I represent who would benefit greatly from implementation of a support program for older workers. I find it puzzling and somewhat upsetting that the Conservative government has such little regard for these people and the employment challenges they face on a daily basis. It is the responsibility of government to bring forward initiatives that would be inclusive and responsive to the reality of the situation at hand.
The Liberal opposition supports quality programs that meet the needs of all of Canada's older workers. In fact, during the 2006 election campaign the Liberal Party called for the development of a pan-Canadian national older worker strategy that incorporated skills upgrading, flexible work environments, community level partnerships, and combined training with job placement services.
Previous Liberal governments have brought forward initiatives to help older workers in their efforts to find and retain employment. The older workers pilot projects initiative and Canada's workplace skills strategy in 2004 were designed to help workers enhance their skills and keep pace with the evolving workplace requirements. It is upsetting that the Conservative government showed such little foresight when it cut $17 million from the workplace skills strategy program.
We know that older workers face added challenges in obtaining work. They tend to remain out of work for a longer period of time. Rightly or wrongly, employers have demonstrated a tendency to look to younger employees who are assumed to be more competent in new technologies. More often than not, regrettably, experience is not looked upon as a tremendous asset when employees are hired.
The minority Conservative government has cut several programs aimed at assisting workers. We can find little value in the Conservative government's performance on pension reform and retirement income security.
Beyond the loss of regular employment, today's jobless have also suffered extensive losses through company pension plans. Years of pension contributions have been lost.
Further, swings in the financial market have had a tremendous impact on the value of retirement assets. Those individuals who believed they were near retirement have seen their savings diminish and are now forced to remain in the labour market.
The Prime Minister demonstrated his complete disregard for the savings of seniors and near retirees when he decided to tax income trusts after promising Canadians that he would not. The Conservative government's record on quality pension reform and retirement income security lacks vision and commitment.
We live in a country where almost one-third of older Canadians receive assistance through the old age security system. We also know that Canada's population is aging. We need a vision for our country that ensures older workers are not excluded nor left behind.
