Mr. Speaker, we are at the stage where we must study, study and study endlessly. The pilot project was implemented two years ago, and people have been waiting two years for the government to tell them finally that it will grant them what they seek.
It is particularly important for these people that 110,000 claimants really benefited from the five weeks. In the latest election, the Conservative Party candidate opposing me talked of wanting the ten best weeks to be taken into account, while I called for it to be the best 12 weeks.
We have a government now that has the opportunity to make changes to employment insurance. We have workers. I call on the Conservative government to change the law, to give these people a program that is theirs and not the federal government's. We are not talking about taxes, we are talking about payment from insurance that belongs to workers.
If we do not want people to receive employment insurance benefits, the answer is simple: we must choose to create jobs. We will put our people to work. Our people are strong and therefore will not be EI recipients.
This is the only program I will put in place. A program to get people to work. However, employment insurance cannot be cut in the meantime.
So, I would like the government to put the pilot project in place and make sure that these people get the income they need to feed their families.