Not only does it not work for those who lose their jobs and don't have access to benefits, but it doesn't work for communities. If you take a look at the ratio of beneficiaries versus unemployed ratio, that 40% we were talking about, it went up to close to 54% or 55% during the middle of the recession. We can compare that to the figures we achieved at the beginning of the 1990s recession. At that time, the BU rate went up to 83%, meaning that a lot more unemployed Canadians were getting cheques and could spend that money in their communities, helping those people keep their jobs.
Today's reality is that the safety net we have in place leaves about one out of two unemployed workers not only without any money to support themselves and their families, but also without any money to help others in their communities keep their jobs. Not only are they in a worse position today as unemployed people, but the communities in which they live are also in worse positions than they were.