Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have here a table showing that between January and July of 2009, 70.8% of the claims filed in Quebec were approved, which means that 30% of the claims were rejected.
With respect to Atlantic Canada, the percentage of the claims approved varies between 59% and 69%. Those are the lowest percentages in all of Canada. In my view, the figures are low for Atlantic Canada because the provinces are suffering, and have been for years, from chronic job shortages and those who are out of work have a very hard time finding employment, whether part-time, seasonal or other.
The second element that comes into play, and that ties in with this, is discrimination, an issue that we have discussed at some length here this afternoon. We have also talked about the fact that this is a bill that treats unemployed workers in an arbitrary manner. Let's be specific here. A significant proportion of the people who are not touched by this bill and who are not among the 190,000 affected are women. Already, these women hold down part-time or seasonal jobs—I'm referring to the percentages I quoted for Atlantic Canada. They are not on the same footing as full-time workers, the people who work 12 months of the year, and by virtue of the very nature of their jobs, they already experience discrimination.
I do not think the government's intention was to discriminate against women, but the bill will lead to obvious discrimination against a certain category of workers, namely women.
I would like to hear from at least two witnesses on this matter. Obviously, I would like to hear from Ms. Yalnizyan, but also from Mr. Céré and from Mr. Laliberté.