It is a powerful lever in the fight against poverty. We've seen that in the study we've been carrying out for the last two years. We have covered almost all regions of Canada. We know what the situation of women is in terms of employment. We have also examined it in the course of another study, one on employability, in fact. I have the document here. The committee recommended that the government revise the definition of “insured participant” that can be found in section 58 of the Employment Insurance Act, so as to broaden eligibility to employment insurance benefits and support measures. That is one of the sectors of employability which is affected and includes women in short-term employment. HRSDC indicates that 54% of the non-working population is not receiving employment insurance benefits. In other words 46% do receive them.
If we look at women, we see that 36% of them receive benefits. To get to 46%, the rate for men would have to be slightly higher, they are in their early fifties etc. So, under the plan, there is discrimination towards women and young people. These are the people that are holding precarious jobs. This is why, along with our colleagues, and I was referring earlier to Mr. Godin, Ms. Folco and Mr. Komarnicki who were there at the time, we made these recommendations in 2005 and we used them again in the report on employability. This is why we are preparing to reissue them in our poverty report.