Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to thank all the witnesses for contributing to our study and also making the time, out of their schedules and their lives, to be here.
As we navigate through this pandemic and work towards recovery, we know it's important that the government be focused on jobs, job creation and connecting Canadians with available jobs, while also ensuring that benefits are there for those who are going to need them. Part of ensuring that those benefits continue to exist is ensuring the sustainability of the program.
Last week at our committee we heard from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which suggested that no permanent changes be made to the EI program until our economy has recovered. It also raised concerns about the impact that higher payroll taxes would have on our economic recovery.
Mr. Gray, I noted that in your open letter to Minister Qualtrough last fall you suggested that the EI program should not necessarily be redesigned to meet the stress test for a shock of the magnitude of this pandemic. Are there specific program structures in the temporary COVID support programs that you would suggest not be incorporated permanently into our EI program?