Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I would like to refer very briefly to a statement made earlier by Mr. Murphy, namely that the number 6 pilot project has not proven to be of any value. It seems to me that this statement is incorrect and not consistent with the facts. In fact, it has been proven at the department that this project, aimed at helping the persons who were falling into a “black hole“, had met its goals in 98 per cent of cases.
However, I partly agree with Mr. Murphy when he says — this is somewhat of a generalization — that employment insurance is mostly used for social programs. Obviously, this is not consistent with our wishes. As for Mr. Lake's question, there are no examples. There again, we are getting into general ideas. I understand that his main concern is that employers are paying one tenth of 4 per cent more than the employees.
I would like to address my next question to Ms. Manson Singer and Ms. Seward. As we know, one solution for eventually meeting the manpower shortages would consist in incentives given both to older workers and those who have quit or lost their job to encourage them to stay on the labour market. In fact, most of them would wish to do so, especially those whose retirement fund is not very substantial.
Let me give you the example of a worker from the Montmagny area who is 57 years old and who lost his job when he was 55. He spent two years in training and applied for 91 different jobs in the same year, including outside his region. This man is in good shape, physically and intellectually, but because he is 57 years old, he was called for an interview by only one employer. Yet he wants to work. I know his name and I know where he lives. However, I could give you dozens of other examples of this kind.
How can we address such a problem? We are wasting the talents of a qualified member of the labour force, a person who even took extra training in another area. Here we have a person who is in good shape, a person whose knowledge, skills and knowhow are at the society's disposal. Yet we are not able to benefit from all that or to find an appropriate job for this worker. How should we manage this issue? I suppose that you have already given some thought to this matter.