Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister, for appearing before committee this morning.
I appreciate your final couple of statements suggesting that we're doing things for workers. I believe that, collectively across Canada, there has never been a more important time to do things for our workforce.
My first question is for you, Minister. Syncreon workers from Essex-Windsor—and it could be more than Syncreon but specifically for this company, which has since been shut down—were let down by the EI system when their manufacturing site closed. The qualifying number of hours for EI, to my understanding, is currently set at 560 in Windsor and 700 in Huron County, which ironically is Essex County. The EI hours are set by the place of residence of the worker, not the location of the employment, and this has caused an inequality in benefit support to those in the Essex County area.
Would you support setting qualifying hours based on the location of employment and not the place of residence?