House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2015, with 64% of the vote.
The Economy May 26th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, I did not hear a question.
Everyone knows that this is a global recession. International experts say that Canada's economy is doing better than that of any other G7 country. Our programs and our budget are helping people during this economic crisis.
The Economy May 26th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, during this crisis, the Bloc has done just one thing: voted things down. It voted against improving employment insurance, against programs to stimulate the municipalities, against tax reductions for taxpayers. The Bloc voted against those measures, but we have taken action. That is the difference.
The Economy May 26th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, we are spending a great deal of money and that includes improvements to employment insurance to benefit the country's unemployed. Compared to other countries, our deficits are workable and short term. There is only one contradiction here and that is that the Bloc Québécois asked for two more weeks of EI. We added five, and it voted against that measure because it constantly votes against the interests of this country's real unemployed.
The Economy May 26th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, let us be clear. When we did our prebudget consultations, the Liberal Party wanted two more weeks of employment insurance. We gave five more weeks of employment insurance, plus all kinds of additional money for training, for people both on EI and not on EI. These are measures to help the unemployed in this recession.
What we are not going to do is, every two or three months, come up with another economic policy, another budget, until we need to raise taxes. Our deficits are affordable, but they will remain short-term.
The Economy May 26th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, virtually every national government in the world is running a deficit. Ours, by comparison, remains much lower than our competitors.
That member, who was once an esteemed economist, should know that when interest rates are zero and we have a recession like this and we have the strong, long-term fiscal position we have, that we put money into a deficit to ensure we help unemployment people in our country.
Employment Insurance May 26th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, the government has just announced additional assistance for marketing in the lobster industry. We continue to meet with stakeholders in that industry to address the specific and very serious problems in the industry.
However, there are figures out today showing that in March the number of EI beneficiaries went up more quickly than the number of unemployed.
The system has been changed. People are benefiting from the system. We will be spending a lot more money on the system. Unlike the leader of the Liberal Party, we cannot be changing our minds on budgets every two or three months.
Employment Insurance May 26th, 2009
On the contrary, Mr. Speaker, because of the economic situation, we will be spending much more this year on employment insurance. That is how we are reacting to the situation. We cannot change the employment insurance system every two or three months. The Leader of the Opposition voted in favour of the budget. Our response to this situation is helping the great majority of the unemployed workers in this country.
Employment Insurance May 26th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, this government improved the employment insurance system by spending a lot more this year. Looking at the new figures, the reality is that we had more new EI recipients in March than new unemployed workers. This indicates that the vast majority of unemployed workers are receiving employment insurance.
National Defence May 13th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of National Defence has been clear, as have the ministers from that region. We have no intention of making such a decision.
Our ministers from that region are not Bloc members: when they say something, they can keep their word.
Pension Plans May 13th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, since we came to power, we have taken a number of steps to help this country's retirees, including income splitting for pensioners. We have created the tax-free savings account to promote investment, and we have improved RRSPs. I could go on at length.
We are continuing to work to improve our pension system. We are discussing these problems with the provinces, which also have extensive jurisdiction over this issue.