Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am glad that Mr. Pacetti raised the issue, because that is what I wanted to talk about.
Your statements are in line with the Bloc Québécois' thinking, especially when it comes to eligibility for employment insurance. You are asking the federal government for a complete overhaul of the employment insurance system because half of all unemployed workers are not entitled to employment insurance. That is disastrous, and I would like you to comment further.
In your brief, you referred to a Toronto Dominion Bank study estimating that it would cost $1 billion to reduce the employment insurance eligibility threshold to 360 hours so that more people can benefit. It is a tragedy that so many people do not have access to employment insurance after having contributed for years. That is the problem, because for the past 15 years or so, Liberal and Conservative governments have taken $57 billion from the employment insurance surplus.
Now they are saying that it would be hard to bring in measures like this, which would cost $1 billion, and to put money back into the pockets of unemployed workers where it came from.
I would like you to comment on that because you did not mention the $57 billion.