Thank you very much, Chair, and thank you to Monsieur Ouellet and Monsieur Céré.
We talk about a two-week waiting period. I think we would all agree that in fact that's not really the correct name for this two-week period of time that faces the unemployed. People wait much longer than two weeks to get a cheque. The standard of HRSDC through Service Canada is that 80% of claims are dealt with over 28 days. Earlier this year and late last year it was much longer than that, and it still may be longer than that. When we talk about a two-week waiting period, it's not really a waiting period; it's a two-week out-of-luck period, a two-week out-of-salary period, and a two-week period in which people who have lost their jobs don't have income.
One of the things we need to keep in mind here is that there's a feeling among some that you don't need to have this two-week period because people are moving from one job to another so quickly. But generally people who are doing that are people who have another job lined up and have left one job. You cannot get employment insurance if you quit your job voluntarily. People who qualify for EI qualify because they've lost their job. Their families are hurt by that. This is a two-week period in which families are significantly hurt.
There are a lot of different ways people have proposed reforms to employment insurance. A number of us have talked about the 360-hour national standard for elimination of regional unfairness. Private members' bills have come to our committee before, and will again, that call for an increase from 55% to 60% of the rate of benefits. There have been bills that have called for raising the maximum insurable amount so that people can get 55% of a higher amount. We've seen calls for extension of benefits and for looking at how severance should be dealt with in terms of EI. There are a number of different ways.
Generally when bills come here, in my experience they've called for a number of those issues. Monsieur Lessard has one, and Monsieur Godin; there was another Bloc bill, Bill C-269, and there are others that have come that have called for a range of things.
I congratulate you for bringing this motion forward and for bringing it to this point. I intend to support the bill because I believe we need to do more on employment insurance. I can't tell you exactly what that should really be, but I think we have to look at all the options. This is one that makes sense, but there are others.
Monsieur Ouellet, I know you're somebody who looks at the social infrastructure of our country and is concerned about people who are perhaps the most vulnerable. Why did you choose specifically to deal with the two-week waiting period, the two-week out-of-luck period, and only the two-week period?