The following statement was read in the House of Assembly today by the Honourable Gerry Byrne, Minister of Immigration, Population Growth and Skills:

Speaker, it is my duty to report to the House the current status of the Government of Canada’s decision to cut $625 million per year from Labour Market Transfer Agreements.

Newfoundland and Labrador has led the formation of a country-wide coalition of provinces and territories of all political stripes to reverse these federal cuts.

Thirteen provincial and territorial Premiers, rallied by our Premier, have persistently informed the Prime Minister that these cuts are ill-advised and must be reversed.

Newfoundland and Labrador has led a united effort of every labour market minister in the country to fight back. Collectively, we have demanded an urgent, emergency, in-person meeting with the federal minister but the federal minister has yet to acquiesce. Federal employment Minister Randy Boissonnault has, however, acknowledged to the Forum of Ministers Responsible for Immigration that the federal budget was flawed and should not have included the cuts.

Speaker, Newfoundland and Labrador has lost $16.8 million annually to support our people. We stand by those whom these funds supported. I should note, the bulk of these funds are not derived from federal revenues. They are deployed from the Employment Insurance account. They come from Newfoundland and Labrador workers and should be given back to Newfoundland and Labrador workers. It is our money. It is the workers’ money. We have already taken action to stabilize services to the vulnerable and will work within our means to ensure continuity of services.

While I fault the federal government directly, I take with concern the knowledge that not one question has been asked of the federal government about its impact or its wisdom by either federal political opposition party. Neither the federal NDP nor the Conservative party have drawn any attention to this on the floor of the House of Commons.

Provinces and territories have taken the united position that backfilling federal cuts by raising provincial taxes is not the best answer. The money is already being collected from us but is being denied to us. The right solution is for Ottawa to give the workers’ money back to the workers.

I ask all members of this House to stand in unison with the same position taken by every Liberal, Progressive Conservative, and NDP provincial government in this country. I ask for the ability to communicate to our provincial and territorial colleagues and, most importantly to Ottawa, that we as a legislature demand these national cuts to worker supports be reversed.