Mr. Speaker, as always when the hon. member speaks I pay a great deal of attention.
I have had the pleasure to work with the hon. member on the human resources committee and so I clearly understand the philosophical disposition he has toward matters related to human resources development.
I find it quite ironic that the Bloc Quebecois would accuse the federal government of engaging in an exercise of political power grabbing when in this piece of legislation we are trying to empower not only the federal government but provincial partners and local stakeholders to give us an opportunity to better serve the people of Canada, whether they are in la belle province de Québec or outside.
I also bring to the hon. member's attention that we as a federal government have a role to play in matters he outlined during his speech. One is the Unemployment Insurance Act which dates back to 1941 and gives a role to the federal government to engage in a process whereby we will give income support to the people of Canada and also a set of tools so they can re-enter the workforce.
I have a different view of what is going on in the relationship between the federal government, provincial governments and local communities. Over the years we have demonstrated that as a federal government we engage very much in co-operative, flexible federalism-