Thank you.
I want to make a heartfelt appeal to you. We are here to get answers, but above all, to find solutions. We don’t seem to be taking the measure and the magnitude of the problem, which is that some 300,000 cases go over the service standard, and it could take more than six weeks.
We have already sounded the alarm every week since the fall. The ministers will tell you that. Up until the procedural motion, there was no sense of urgency among the ministers. However, we still do not feel the urgency of finding solutions for claimants who have been waiting, sometimes for months, since the fall. That’s six or even eight weeks without benefits.
I’m not just talking about identity theft; I’m not ignoring it, there are obviously problems, but we’re talking about the volume of current EI benefits. When people apply for their benefits, they need them. They do not want to be told that their case is not urgent enough and that it cannot be given priority. In every Action-Chômage movement in Quebec, in every MP’s office, we have sounded the alarm that claimants are victims.
In the short term, what do you plan to do to relieve this volume of service requests? Will you hire and train staff? What do you intend to do so that people are no longer told, as is still the case today, that, unfortunately, there are wait times of six weeks or more? It makes no sense to people. There are human beings behind it. What solutions can you confirm are in place to address these needs in a timely manner?