It's a great question. I'll make just a couple of comments.
Recently our board chair of the Apprenticeship and Occupational Certification Board in New Brunswick did send a letter to some of the folks responsible for EI around apprenticeship. One of the suggestions was a dedicated 1-800 number just for apprentices. Whether that would work or not we're not sure, but we do recognize that apprentices need some way to get at the system very quickly and have their issue resolved. As Jeff says, the training is anywhere from three weeks to ten weeks, and we have stories of apprentices who finish before they get anything.
The other piece, which I'll finish with, is just a comment. I think over the years we've confused the employment insurance program with a training program. I know there's been talk in New Brunswick sometimes of whether apprentices should be able to access student loans, but because the training in school is short, generally the response to that has been no. I think there is confusion about whether EI....
In the case of an apprentice, EI is really support for training and not necessarily employment insurance. They work and then go to school, and then they go back to work. They happen to interact with the employment insurance system for three to ten weeks during school. I think that's where it gets complicated.