Arrogant Conservative Cabinet Minister Gets Her Due Criticism
"Opposition MPs tore a strip off Human Resources Minister Diane Finley yesterday over her comments to Canwest News Service that the Conservative government has no interest in increasing employment-insurance payments and making it "lucrative" for jobless workers to sit around the house.
NDP leader Jack Layton led the verbal assault in the Commons, accusing Ms. Finley and the Conservatives of being out of touch with the problems of real people.
"If they spent some time with the hundreds of thousands of people that are losing their jobs now, they might understand that," Mr. Layton said during a raucous exchange in the Commons. "They are not trying to sit at home and get paid. They're trying to protect their homes."
Mr. Layton was among opposition MPs who took umbrage at Ms. Finley's statements that she is opposed to raising EI benefits and to making it easier to qualify for the insurance payments."
Ottawa Citizen