I feel sometimes in this room...it's a little bit like the last discussions we had when we came to talk about the previous bill's extension of benefits. There are some people who are going to benefit from this kind of a move, and we obviously don't want to stand in the way of that. But there are some big problems and some big questions, the whole question about financial sustainability and who will really benefit. Will it be that self-employed woman who may be an ACTRA member, or someone else, or will it be people with a much higher income who will get the benefits from this?
There are all sorts of questions. People have said to me that they understand on the parental benefits. You know, somebody would be able to say they were planning to get pregnant next year so they'd start paying into benefits now so that when the time comes to take maternity and parental benefits, they'd be eligible. But the question that was asked of me was: How do you plan for sickness? I don't have an answer for them on that. I don't think you have an answer for them on that.
I think there are some people who think they're going to have access to sick benefits that, quite frankly, aren't going to be there, because they're going to have to have paid in. And if it's voluntary, they're not going to have paid in by that time. That's why we think there needs to be a much more rigorous review of what's going on, how the money's being spent and who's benefiting.