Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Ladies, thank you very much for being here.
As you're probably aware, Bill C-44 proposes to change two different systems. The first is the Canada Labour Code, which governs federally regulated industries. Obviously, federal government employees would be covered under that. They're only about 10% of all the workers in the country, so we're going to need some help in lobbying our friends in the provinces—and I hope you will help us do that—to encourage them and to make sure that each province adopts companion legislation to make sure that the other 90% of the people who work in this country can avail themselves of the same benefits.
Of course, the second part of the bill makes changes to the employment insurance system to allow for these compassionate benefits to be claimed in a number of different areas. That is obviously exclusively within the federal realm of jurisdiction.
I think it is important to make that clarification, because I'm not quite sure that all of the witnesses have completely understood what the bill does—that we're dealing with those two different areas, and that certainly on the labour code side, we can only do what we can do within the federal jurisdiction.
I'm sure you would agree that both of these changes are a positive step forward. We can certainly get into the discussion about what number of weeks should be allowed to be claimed for EI benefits, and I'm sure the committee will continue to have some discussions around that. I very much appreciate the advice you've provided, and that of the CEO of Ronald McDonald House, which gave us an idea of the average window of stay within their facilities. I think that may give the committee something to give some consideration to.
Beyond what has been proposed in those two areas, and based on your individual experiences and the other programs that are available out there to support medical costs and to support compassionate leave for families and caregivers, as well as some of the tax credits, etc., that we've actually brought in as a government, are there other areas?
Are there any other areas of advice that you would have for us as we look at these changes and what we can do to make sure we're getting it as right as possible the first time in making this a new benefit? Do you have any specific advice beyond what we're doing in this bill that might be good food for thought for us as committee members?