Thank you very much.
To all the officials, thank you for your work and for being here today.
From my perspective, the CERB program remains complicated, as are the other programs, for that matter. We have to go through a process of determining whether a person is qualified. If the government had adopted what the NDP proposed, a universal direct payment, we wouldn't actually be in the situation where a whole bunch of people are left out and stuck.
To that end, I would like to ask the following question.
I have a number of constituents in different sets of scenarios. One constituent had to leave work voluntarily, or actually quit, because of experiencing harassment. As a result of quitting, the individual does not qualify for CERB. In another situation, another constituent had to quit work because of having flu-like symptoms. He was never tested for COVID, but he had flu-like symptoms. He was worried his employer would not give him sick leave, and he had no choice but to leave work because he was worried that he would potentially infect others.
I have endless situations such as that, and everybody who is caught up in that situation is worried that if they apply for CERB, somehow they might be penalized down the road, because under the government's requirements you cannot apply for CERB and be eligible if you have quit your job.
To the officials, on this question, is the government working to fix this issue so that people can in fact, under those circumstances, still apply and be qualified without penalty?