Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll be sharing my time today with my friend and colleague, Mr. Coteau.
Welcome to the witnesses and thank you for the information that you've provided today.
Mr. Chairman, I'll start with Ms. Nord.
Welcome back to the committee. You assisted us with our labour shortage study, so welcome back. I listened with interest to the comments that you made in your opening statement related to division 26 so I'd like to take us to that issue.
You highlighted the financial pressures that have come with increasing eligibility over time and I think your comment was along the lines of “EI resources shouldn't fund everything”. However, in the same statement, you also recognized the importance of investing in skills, education and training programs. I think you had a line there that spoke to that.
Having participated in our labour shortage study, we consistently heard about widespread labour shortages and a historically low unemployment rate. Those issues have forced the government to rethink how it meets these challenges. I think it's led us to decide on a program that is expanded as it relates to eligibility and provides more resources to the provinces and territories, which you recognized in your opening statement with the $2-billion investment.
I'm trying to reconcile those two comments that you've made. It shouldn't fund everything, but we need to be cognizant of how much money is being invested, specifically to the point of expanded eligibilities.
Can you elaborate on that in terms of emphasizing that training programs are important—we have a labour shortage—but warning us to be cognizant of eligibility and how many resources are being invested into the program?