House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 78% of the vote.
Employment Insurance May 16th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, employees and employers across this country contribute to unemployment insurance. It is there when people lose their jobs.
All Canadians expect to be temporarily unemployed. That is what EI is for. We also expect people to seek a job that is within their skill set. That is only fair and reasonable. We are also only asking those Canadians to seek that within reasonable distance of their own homes.
Employment Insurance May 16th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, we all understand that any one Canadian unemployed is too many, but we are also facing unprecedented skills shortages. We need to make sure that we help people find those jobs. We need to help the unemployed connect with jobs that they are capable of taking part in.
There is a skills shortage; we have unemployed Canadians. We are not asking them to do anything more than apply for jobs that they are skilled to perform.
Employment Insurance May 16th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, as the NDP continues to insult Canadians who want to work, I would like to quote the leader of the NDP once more. We on this side of the House do not think it is, as he says, “a colossal waste”, when Canadians are actually working.
We think Canadians working in restaurants, as truck drivers, as food handlers, are important contributors to the Canadian economy. We support and applaud those Canadians.
Employment Insurance May 16th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I thought I was done. I have lots more examples, but the important thing is that there are a lot of people who want to go to work. There are people who are on EI. We need to make sure it is effective and that the jobs that are still vacant can be filled.
Employment Insurance May 16th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, as I have been saying, there are available jobs out there, but we will ensure that Canadians will not be expected to take jobs that are not within their skill set.
One other thing we need to exemplify is that no job seeker will be asked to relocate.
The important part of these changes is to—
Employment Insurance May 16th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I think I defined one suitable job, but I do want to clarify that the 32,500 people looking for work were actually in Newfoundland, as was the mining company that was looking for the 1,500 people.
Another example I will give is that Nova Scotia's recent shipbuilding contract will create over 15,000 jobs over the next 30 years and the provincial government is already talking about importing workers.
At this point there are 45,000 Nova Scotians looking for work.
Does the House want some more examples?
Employment Insurance May 16th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I actually have some examples here of what constitutes suitable employment. A mining company in St. John's, Newfoundland is looking to hire 1,500 people through the temporary foreign worker program.
There are 32,500 people looking for work right now. That is why we are trying to make EI more effective, to help these mining companies get people to employ.
Employment Insurance May 16th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the only changes that we are seeing are the changes in attitude in the House of Commons.
We on this side of the House do not think that Canadians working are, and I quote the leader of the NDP, “a colossal waste”. We think Canadians are proud to work, and they should be. We are making sure that they have opportunities to work.
It is a sustainable program that we put in place. We on this side of the House are proud of Canadians when they go out and find a job. There are unfortunately too many people still searching. We are helping them.
The Budget May 10th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, our Conservative government remains focused on jobs and growing the economy. That is why, in Canada's economic action plan 2012, we ensured that it was full of measures to promote job creation, including investments for training, infrastructure and new opportunities for young Canadians, first nations, newcomers and the unemployed.
It is frustrating when the opposition plays games with Canadians' future. Canadians want us to get this passed. They want this to happen. We need to focus on that and get it done for everyone.
Budget Implementation May 4th, 2012
Madam Speaker, we are trying to highlight what we are trying to provide to Canadians.
The NDP members stood barely moments after the budget was tabled in the House and said they would be voting against it. They have had somewhere up to five weeks to discuss and debate that. However, the member for Burnaby—New Westminster stood in the House and took away the privilege of every other member in the House to publicly and openly debate the budget. I believe he is an NDP member?