Thank you.
In terms of creating employment income that provides support to Canadians, I would say the first parameter that we need to consider is coverage—the proportion of Canadians who could have access to EI programs when they lose their jobs, or if we're going to have some sort of modernized EI program in the future, talking not only about employment loss but maybe income loss. As I said, this is a topic that is very complicated. We need lots of investigation data to be able to think about how we can reform the EI program and about how we consider income loss.
In general, in terms of benefits, I guess a focus on coverage is more important than the amount of the benefit, because we want those individuals who don't have any other option, who don't have any income, to have access to some sort of support, rather than nothing. After we make sure that individuals receive some sort of support, we can have a better discussion about whether there is enough or not.
I believe the main parameters for reforming the EI program would be about the eligibility criteria, in terms of how it can support more Canadians, more individuals, who contributed to the program. This is something I believe is important.
In terms of, for example, regional variations, the reason that I believe we should eliminate that feature from the EI program is that, for example with remote working, we are facing changes in the nature of work. We are seeing a borderless labour market. If we are moving in that direction and we want to modernize our EI program, it means that we need to look at the way the labour market is changing and the nature of work is changing. As I said, remote working is an example. You can physically be in one location and work for an organization in a different region, a different province or even a different country. These are the questions we also need to take into consideration when we are going to reform the EI program.