I'm from the east coast, but I'm not that slow, Mr. Chair.
The other economist who was here from the CAW, who gave us some good testimony, said that “most unemployed Canadians do not receive EI benefits“ right now. The figure I've heard used is that there are 800,000 Canadians who are not even using it right now.
From his perspective, there's an enormous shortage of jobs, not a lack of work. There's not a lack of work ethic. That, in his opinion, explains the decline in the employment rate. So he was offering that “policies should be designed not to compel more labour supply but rather to support Canadian families in an era where there's a chronic shortage of jobs that dominates the outlook for our labour” capacity in this country for quite a while.
I believe that would use up most of my time.