Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the members for giving me the opportunity to address them.
I am speaking today as co-spokesperson of the Conseil national des chômeurs et chômeuses, which represents organizations that defend the rights of the unemployed, help workers on the ground and advocate for major improvements to the employment insurance program.
Today I will focus on two key elements.
First, I should point out that youth employment is an important economic indicator. The current situation is mainly a result of extreme instability and uncertainty due in large part to the trade war with the United States. In other words, there is a crisis. When employers have to cut staff, they target the newest hires, who are often young people. Worse, they're not hiring anyone new. As a result, young people are being left in the lurch.
I really need to emphasize that it is alarming to see that the government is really not leading by example in cutting 2,000 student jobs in the public service and by making workforce cuts that specifically affect young people. Youth employment and access to good jobs are being undermined. Skills transfer is being undermined. The public service is also being undermined.
Second, to deal with the tariff crisis, the government implemented temporary employment insurance measures in the spring. Two of these measures, the waiver of the waiting period and the rules around the way severance pay is handled, will be extended until next April. We should really consider making them permanent once and for all. The third measure will expire in a few days, on October 11. It currently provides broader eligibility for employment insurance to counter economic instability. By refusing to extend this measure, the government is putting workers, especially young workers, in a vulnerable position. It doesn't seem to realize that the crisis doesn't just affect people who have had jobs for a number of years. It affects everyone.
In place of the third measure, the government put in place a convoluted measure granting additional weeks of employment insurance benefits to long-tenured workers. By reintroducing a discriminatory measure from a former government that used it to undermine the employment insurance program, the government is failing several thousand other workers. Focusing on long-tenured workers creates an artificial and unfair divide among workers by automatically excluding young people and others from these support measures. It discriminates against young people and so many others.
It excludes many workers, particularly those in the automotive industry, the very workers we wanted to target with this measure and who have had employment gaps in recent years. Many part-time working women are also excluded. I say “working women” because 75% of part-time workers are women, particularly young women. Never mind seasonal workers, who are important, indispensable figures in the Quebec and Canadian economy, and who are excluded every time there is a crisis. When we abandon seasonal workers, we also abandon our regions.
The best way to combat job insecurity is to provide a social safety net worthy of the name. I urge you to consider improving the employment insurance program to provide all workers with real protection in the event of unemployment, whatever economic turbulence should occur.
We are proposing expanded eligibility for the employment insurance program, a review of penalties to allow for greater flexibility, an extension of measures already in place and better benefits for family caregivers.
We reiterate the suggestions that we submitted to your colleagues on the Standing Committee on Finance in our pre-budget consultation brief.
The government has an opportunity to get back on track, to reverse some of its decisions and to honour the commitments that it has repeatedly made, election after election.
Thank you for your attention. I will be pleased to answer your questions in the language of your choice.