There's no doubt that the commodity price drop has impacted many Canadians across the country. Anybody who worked to support the resource sector will probably feel the pain. In a broader sense, it illustrates how closely tied our economy and our lives are to the resource sector, so whether you live in an urban downtown condo, or up north, or in the oil fields of Alberta, this is has had a devastating effect on many people.
We had to look at how quickly we could address the serious challenge raised by the price drop, by the calls from workers, by the premiers' calls. By selecting criteria that captured the most severe needs, we wanted to attempt to provide extra support for those who need it most.
Like employment insurance itself, it is not the same for each of the 62 regions. Those differences exist, as they do for any other insurance; there are different costs for different regions. For example, if you look at auto insurance, there are different costs to repair different cars. So the regions are established and reflect the economic criteria of that area and their ability to create other work opportunities. Therefore, the benefits will take longer to obtain and shorter in duration, if it's a very strong economy.
In terms of the areas that fell within that mandate, it turned out that there were 12 regions that—