It is good news. Obviously the 21 employment insurance regions that are affected are parts of the country where, despite their best efforts, many workers can't find year-round, full-time employment. This will ensure there are enough weeks of support through this extended benefits pilot so they'll be able to complete their entire earnings year. It will be very helpful to a lot of people, but it will also be helpful to the department, which can take the data that we collect over the three years that this particular pilot has been in place and use it to figure out the best possible way to support people going forward. As I said in the House today, the best way, in my judgment, is to continue to provide people with skills so that they can step into better jobs, and also that results, of course, in incomes going up.
On December 3rd, 2007. See this statement in context.