Thank you, Mr. Chair.
We must never forget that it is the workers and employers who contribute to the employment insurance fund, and not the crown or the government. There really are no additional costs, since the government does not pay for this.
Amendment BQ-9 proposes that we use the 12 best-paid weeks of work to determine the benefit rate for an employment insurance recipient, rather than using the 12 last weeks. That would protect an employee who has sacrificed some of his or her work conditions to keep his plant open, who has sacrificed some of his salary and benefits. This way, if ever the plant were to close, we would avoid the employees being penalized by the fact that their last 12 weeks of compensation are being taken into account, when their salary was reduced to attempt to save the business. We want to avoid doubly penalizing someone who tried to save his job, but winds up losing it in any case. It would really be much more beneficial to the workers if we took their 12 best weeks into account.
May I remind everyone that the government does not put one cent into the employment insurance fund. It only dips into the fund to balance its budgets.