Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good day and welcome to all of the witnesses.
After listening to several witnesses, including yourselves and a number of others this morning, I was surprised to hear Mr. McCallum, a Liberal colleague, acknowledge that this budget wasn't perfect, that quite often, it did nothing to correct some of the problems that have been identified today. He mentioned that although the government was refusing to consider any amendments, his party was still planning to support the budget. Deciding to support the budget is one thing, but the fact that the government is rejecting any amendments makes their support even harder to swallow.
I was also surprised to hear him tell us that in his opinion, the budget does provide significant amounts of money for employment insurance. I jumped when I heard that. It is as if he hadn't heard Mr. Céré tell us earlier that the EI measures announced in the budget were inadequate and that the EI benefit period should be extended. Well, the benefit period is being extended temporarily by five weeks, but very few people will qualify for that. Neither problem, that is the accessibility problem and the benefit rate, has been corrected.
I'd like to hear your response to Mr. McCallum's comments. As a spokesperson for unemployed men and women, do you feel that EI funding levels are adequate?