Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Céré, I would add:
“Keep it simple, stupid.”
We want to make the solutions permanent, but we also need to make them as simple as possible.
My thanks to the committee for welcoming me today as a special guest. I feel there may be a little conflict of interest, since Marie-Hélène Dubé is from my riding.
Mrs. Dubé, thank you very much for joining us today.
As for the content of the budget unveiled yesterday, we already knew that the Liberal government was going to increase the number of weeks of benefits payable from 15 to 26 for people with serious illnesses. The government did not hide it, quite the contrary. It made the announcement a number of weeks ago, maybe months. It was in the budget and it is now a reality. If I understand correctly, the government will change the legislation so that people with serious illnesses will be eligible for 26 weeks of benefits.
I must mention that Ms. Chabot, who is with us, has introduced Bill C-265, which calls for 50 weeks of benefits.
At our 2018 convention in Saint-Hyacinthe, which you attended, Mrs. Dubé, we adopted a proposal from my association to increase the number of weeks of benefits payable to 52.
At the Conservative Party national convention, which took place in the last few weeks, we passed that same resolution to increase the number of weeks of benefits payable from 15 to 52.
Mrs. Dubé, you mentioned that you had cancer three times over a five-year period and that, each time, you were only eligible for 15 weeks of benefits. Without going into detail, if you had had 50 or 52 weeks of benefits, what would have changed in your life?
Clearly, I don't want to know the details of your personal finances, but I would like to know to what extent your burden would have been lighter if you had received 50 weeks of benefits instead of 15.