Finance committee  We are not the ones who said that. It was the Toronto Dominion Bank that calculated a cost of $1 billion if employment insurance eligibility is reduced to 360 hours. I would like to go back to what we were talking about earlier. We believe that there was a huge surplus that the government unfortunately took away.

Finance committee  Not to my knowledge. I will refrain from commenting on partisan games played by political parties about what should be done, what should be supported, whether the government should continue its work, and so on. It is true that employment insurance measures have been passed, such as the five additional weeks at the end of the benefit period.

Finance committee  That is a complex question. I think that it is good to help all workers, including older workers, especially during periods of recession. People have to have access to money so that they can retrain and get back into the job market. These are steps in the right direction. The Government of Quebec is also doing a lot to help unemployed workers get back into the job market.

Finance committee  I think that some good measures have been put forward in terms of training, and the Government of Quebec has implemented complementary measures. However, we have to think of the people who cannot get training. We have to make sure that they have a decent income to make it to retirement.

Finance committee  That is the problem when we only have five minutes to present our positions. Successive Canadian governments did take $57 billion from the employment insurance fund, and they cut benefits. Yes, the contribution rate went down, but the main problem is that now, over half of all unemployed workers are not eligible for employment insurance.

Finance committee  On what, exactly?

Finance committee  Do you mean benefit payments?

Finance committee  You mean contributions from employers and employees?

Finance committee  Yes. We have two particular concerns about employment insurance. First is accessibility, which is the biggest problem. Fewer than half of the people who become unemployed actually collect employment insurance. Second is increased benefits. With respect to setting contribution rates, the Conservative government created the Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board a few years ago.

Finance committee  Except that you filched a few billion from employment insurance to put more—

Finance committee  May I complete my response? They took $50 billion to balance federal finances. That money should be for employment insurance and the unemployed.

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I would like to thank the committee for inviting the Confédération des syndicats nationaux, the CSN, to take part in these budget consultations. It is always a pleasure for the CSN to participate in these activities. The CSN is a union organization representing 300,000 members, primarily in Quebec, although it has members throughout Canada.

Finance committee  In the past three years, approximately 140,000 jobs in manufacturing have been lost in Quebec. I would also like to confirm what Mr. Chevrette has said. We have the Fédération des travailleurs et des travailleuses du papier et de la forêt. Three years ago, there were 14,000 members working in this sector, now there are only 9,500.

Finance committee  No, indeed, this is not new. This sector is undergoing a structural crisis, but the economic crisis has doubled the difficulties experienced by this industry. That is why we are also asking for improvements to the EI program for these workers, but also for others. It is great to extend the EI program by five weeks, but individuals who are not eligible for EI will not be able to get those extra weeks.

Finance committee  No, I had not heard that before today.