Minister, my Conservative colleague asked a question about workers who did not comply with mandatory vaccination being denied employment insurance benefits and emergency benefits such as the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit and the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit.
You said that it depended on the companies and the decision was not up to the department. But it actually is a decision by your department, and a majority of the companies where vaccination is mandatory come under federal jurisdiction. Those workers have already been laid off or dismissed or put on leave without pay, and a punitive burden has now been piled on: that they are no longer eligible for employment insurance benefits. You have said this measure would last as long as public health required.
At this time, do you think that depriving people of employment insurance benefits in this situation is an extreme measure?
Are you considering lifting this measure?