Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank the witnesses for being here, including you, Mr. Laliberté.
I think that, as the commissioner for workers and the commissioner for employment insurance, you've been able to clearly identify the problems raised by seasonal workers for a long time now.
As you said, the labour market situation has changed, and our employment insurance system isn't meeting the needs of seasonal workers.
In the motion I moved, I made sure to specify that our study was on seasonal workers. Some permanent industries hire seasonal workers—that's another reality—but seasonal workers usually work for industries that don't operate year-round, but that need these workers, who contribute to the economy.
How can we support workers who don't work year-round by allowing them, through the employment insurance system, to avoid long periods called the EI black hole?
In Nova Scotia, lobster traps were put in the water this morning. Two weeks ago, we heard another fine testimony from Mandy Symonds, who works at the lobster-processing plant. She was explaining to us that this sector accounts for 90% of the economy in southern Nova Scotia.
Among the solutions being considered is a standard requirement of 420 hours of employment to qualify for EI. There is also frequent talk of increasing the number of weeks used to determine the benefit level to 35, and using the best 12 weeks for calculation purposes.
Can you provide us with more details on these solutions and tell us whether they seem to be winning solutions, if we want to keep these kinds of jobs?