As we stated earlier, and everyone who comments on Bill C-50 seems to be in agreement about this, accessibility is the number one priority. As Pierre Céré said, everyone agrees on this first point, except Parliament.
The second issue is the extension of the benefit period. We are in the throes of a recession. These are temporary, albeit much needed, measures. However, the initiative should more closely resemble the approach taken when the five-week period was extended. The situation will need to be monitored closely. According to the banks and to the OECD, the recession will drag on. There is every reason to believe that this will in fact be the case.
Mr. Casey mentioned another measure, namely work sharing. He said there had been a problem given the large number of work-sharing programs. Approximately 22,000 Quebeckers have entered into work-sharing agreements. That is a very high number. Across Canada, 50,000 people have entered into such agreements. This program is slated to end in a few months. This is a good initiative that, as Mr. Casey said, keeps everyone employed. If there is some way to develop a program based on this model, we would be happy to co-operate.
The government claims to want to help long-standing members of the labour force. We would rather see a program designed to help workers who will have problems finding a new job. Mention was made of job training. That is all well and good, but we must not try to function with a byzantine EI system that, in our view, is off the mark and creates obvious inequities.
Ms. Folco spoke earlier of the inequities experienced by women. At this particular point in time, young workers are the ones being treated unfairly. The unemployment rate among young people is double that of other groups and young people do not meet the stated EI eligibility criteria because they have not worked long enough. From a demographics standpoint, nothing is being done to help the people hardest hit by the economic downturn. I'm not talking here about the burden of a family and other such things. I believe these factors should be taken into consideration.