Welcome to the committee. I will be sharing with Jacques. I just want to make a couple of comments.
First of all, I think unemployment insurance is for all workers across the country. So when Mr. Lessard zeroes in on the forest industry, that is why programs were created out of the EI part II, specifically because we have to take that sector and address some of the hardships with $127.8 million in the initiative of competitiveness. The forest industry has been going under some terrible hardships, and it's been for quite a while. That is why there have been programs like the community development trust and the targeted initiative for older workers. There's been an increase in that funding, because that is what the EI part II is trying to address. The unemployment we're talking about today, the insurable benefits, the premiums, that is all about changing some of these rules that really have nothing so much to do with that.
I want to ask a question, because one part that's missing here is from the small business and small enterprise people, and this is where I feel the women don't have a voice. The small and medium enterprises are really growing, very quickly, and it's because of women. They're all employing maybe fewer than five employees.
This is not just urban; this is rural. This is what a lot of our rural women have chosen, because many of them want to be raising their own children. Some have decided that starting businesses at home or in small communities is working and working really well. I think it's a very important statistic that has been missing here.
Do you have any statistics on that, Mr. Cirtwill, about women in small businesses and enterprises? I do feel that CFIB has raised a real concern about any changes. They are the ones who had a strong voice in making sure the benefits and premiums were more in balance.
Taking from them, because they make up a huge amount of the people who employ these same people we're trying to protect with employment benefits, can you give us some sort of indication of how important this is to women, to make sure we keep a balance here, that the organizations are also specifically going to help these women?