I would like to make another comment, even though I know time is short. I have put forward in the House of Commons a bill, which has been passed at first reading, that would eliminate the waiting period, the two weeks people have to wait for employment insurance benefits.
When I am at meetings of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, and we have officials from the Department of Human Resources and Social Development in Ottawa appearing before us, I ask whether anyone would agree to receive no pay for two weeks if they were to lose their jobs. None of them answered my question, which means that none of them would accept such a thing. I then asked them why, since they were not prepared to accept it themselves, why they would impose it on the poor?
Do you think that eliminating the waiting period would be helpful, not just to seasonal workers but also to others in a similar situation?