Minister, there's been a lot of talk about how seasonal workers are affected by cuts to EI, but there's been very little talk about the effect of those cuts on the arts and culture sector.
The Directors Guild of Canada said that they are concerned that:
...new regulations may force some members, whose use of employment insurance benefits places them in the “Frequent Claimant” category, out of the screen-based industry.
I'm wondering, were you consulted by the minister on how changes to EI would affect artists? And did Heritage provide any impact notes on EI reforms and how they would affect artists?