That, in the opinion of this House, the government must address the alarming growth in the number of unemployed Canadians and the increasing number of Employment Insurance claimants; confirm its commitment to a social safety net to help regular Canadians through tough times and bring forward reforms to Employment Insurance rules to expand eligibility and improve benefits, including: ( a) eliminate the two-week waiting period; ( b) reduce the qualifying period to a minimum of 360 hours of work, regardless of the regional rate of unemployment;( c) allow self-employed workers to participate in the plan;( d) raise the rate of benefits to 60% and base benefits on the best 12 weeks in the qualifying period; and( e) encourage training and re-training.
