Mr. Speaker, once again, it is with great pride that I rise during an opposition day totally dedicated to the situation of women, and more specifically their economic equality.
For the second consecutive year, the Bloc Quebecois, through the hon. member for Québec, tables a motion dealing exclusively with the situation of women. Special days like this one are essential, since they provide us with an opportunity to take a look at our place in society and, hopefully, further our cause.
Today's motion reads:
That this House denounce the government for its insensitivity and its inaction regarding the adoption of concrete measures to promote the economic equality of women in federal areas of jurisdiction.
First, I want to denounce a recent decision made by the Liberals which clearly shows the relevancy of our motion. I am referring to the merging, as of April 1st, of three women organizations. Indeed, the Secretary of State for the Status of Women announced that she will lump together the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women, the womens' programs of the Department of Human Resources Development, as well as Status of Women Canada.
That announcement made by a woman is very disappointing. It clearly shows a lack of seriousness and respect for women. The secretary of state should be ashamed and go into hiding for making that decision.
By grouping these services under Status of Women Canada, the Liberal government abolishes the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women. This is yet another centralizing measure of the Liberals, who do not know any better.
By merging the CACSW, the government is depriving women of an independent organization which conducted research and promoted education for women, not for the government. The independence of the council was essential to allow it to fulfill its mandate. The council could exert pressure on the government. It could point a finger and denounce the government's inaction regarding the situation of women.
As of April 1st, this so-called Liberal government will have total control over that organization. Women will be gagged.
April 1 will be a sad day for women. I trust that Liberal women will stand up in turn to denounce this decision. Solidarity among women is much more crucial than solidarity at a political party level.
I will not say more about this anti-women decision.
As for unemployment, according to the February 1995 statistics, 642,000 women were unemployed in Canada, or 9.5 per cent. In Quebec, the rate was up to 11.6 per cent, or 187,000 women. There were also 280,082 women on welfare in Quebec.
What is the federal government doing to lower the unemployment rate among women? Nothing. It sits tight and puts its trust in the economic recovery. It has adopted a laissez faire strategy.
Where are the jobs that Liberals kept promising? Where are all the training and upgrading programs for women? Where are the services promoting women's presence in the labour market? None of these promises have been kept. The only measure touted by Liberals as contributing significantly to job creation is the infrastructure program which was to create 45,000 temporary jobs over a three year period.
The Liberals bragged about this so-called beneficial program. They said it would help men and women get back to work.
The results have been rather disappointing. Seasonal temporary jobs. This program only provided short-term jobs to people already in the labour force and did nothing to create new jobs for the unemployed.
This program completely ignored women on unemployment. Indeed, women's groups had asked the minister concerned to establish certain rules that would allow women to have access to some of these mostly non-traditional jobs.
To my knowledge, the minister did not grant what seemed to be a legitimate request.
Despite all the promises made by the Liberals, we still have women on unemployment, women who work for a while on some project or program, then go back on unemployment and end up on welfare. These women are caught in this vicious circle and will never be able to get out of this difficult situation for good.
The federal government is not helping women, worse, I really think it is harming them. The federal employment, training, upgrading and unemployment programs are not up-to-date, they are not flexible nor creative. The programs, services and conditions have been the same for years now, even though the labour market is constantly changing.
The results of this rigid system are terribly disappointing. Women cannot meet the needs of the labour market rapidly and effectively.
I would like to give you a very concrete example which demonstrates how inefficient the federal system is. A few months ago, I met in my riding office a woman who is a single parent living on a meagre $170 a week unemployment insurance benefit.
To get out of this difficult situation, she wanted to attend classes in bureautics offered by her regional school board. This much vaunted program, which offered interesting work prospects, lasted 18 months. The federal government does not pay for 18-month courses. In fact, it only recognizes programs where students graduate after 12 months.
As a result, this woman continued to receive her meagre benefits till the end.
Once her benefits had expired, she enroled in a program entitled "Introduction to non-traditional trades". Thirteen women registered for this 14-week training course leading to a job. According to the information I have gathered so far-since this program is on now-this program clearly does not work.
Non-traditional trades are not that common and job opportunities in these areas are practically non-existent in a tourist area like mine.
Then, why is the federal government offering this program? Why does it spend money in vain? Could it not carry out some studies to see if the labour market in my region is accessible to these women and if job opportunities are really there? If not, what good does it do to direct these women towards this training program?
Unfortunately, it seems this program is simply offered for the fun of it.
And these women can see after a few weeks that they are involved in something that leads nowhere. And yet, they were ready to invest their efforts and energies in this program to see the light at the end of the tunnel, that is, to find a job.
Instead, they are offered a strangely structured program where they are told about self-esteem and about the need to take their future in their own hands, to go for it. They are almost handed a mirror and told: "Look, you are the only one to blame if you do not work. So, do something about it!"
These women do not want that kind of therapy. They want something concrete, something real. They want to learn something that will help them find a job.
As I see there is only one minute left, I will conclude rather quickly.
Women are worth as much as men. Our society, our lifestyles and our values were such that women were not appreciated for their true worth. It is now time to correct this, and fast.
In light of some of its actions, it is clear that the Liberal government is not ready to take big steps in that direction. In spite of all the promises that were made to women in several areas, the federal government is very hard on women. The announced reform in the unemployment insurance program and old age pension does not augur well.
Thus, I encourage all the women in Quebec to say no to an increasingly threatening federal system.
