Mr. Chair, I remember that, in the past, the Conservatives were against centralizing government operations, but in this case, they are the ones pushing for centralization.
The ironic part is that it doesn't just indicate a change in direction of government; in this specific case, the previous operation was cost-effective. It was efficient. The decisions, we were told by witnesses, benefited from and were informed by.... In fact, the decisions were made close to the people, to the industries and the regions being affected.
When you look at the overall job numbers in Canada, for instance, we do know that unemployment is almost two points higher than it was four years ago. But when you break it down by regions and by provinces, you recognize that almost 70% of the jobs created in Canada last year were created in two provinces, Saskatchewan and Alberta. There's a balkanization of the Canadian economy. We're hemorrhaging jobs in Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes.
So this is a time when a less centralized approach actually makes more sense and is even more essential. I find it not only a reversal of Conservative historic policy of being opposed to centralizing these types of decision-making bodies, but also, at a time when the nature of the work and the nature of the decisions being made require regional sensitivities because of the balkanization of the Canadian labour market and economy, I think this is a very wrong-headed decision.