Ms. Washington, thank you for your testimony. I understand your view, but I also understand the view of a woman whom I met with in my riding earlier in the fall who has worked for 20 years. She doesn't qualify for any benefits whatsoever because she worked part time and she worked an average of 20 to 25 hours a week. When she lost her job--in my area you need 700 hours to qualify--she got nothing. She didn't get any EI whatsoever.
My concern about this legislation, that I would need to have cleared up, is that in my view it legislates a classification of workers, those who are deserving and those who are undeserving. We heard the minister today use terms like “those who deserve help”, “those who work hard”. People who work 20 hours a week work very hard. People who worked 40 hours a week and then were asked by their company a year ago to take reduced hours to keep the company going and then were laid off and found out they didn't qualify deserve help too.
I understand your view about passing it quickly. This committee has heard today that the minister acted on the recommendation of the Liberal Party and Mr. Godin from the other day that we should put a fixed date on this so that no matter how long this takes--and it shouldn't take very long--people will qualify as of the beginning of January. That's my problem. So many people aren't being helped, and the view of the government seems to be that they are not deserving. I think this is something that is very difficult for me to sanction. I wonder if you have a view on this.