Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Thank you to all of the witnesses for their presentations.
I'd like to ask all of the witnesses this question. The system we have at the moment does not allow for an appeal process. That is to say, under certain extenuating circumstances a person might all of a sudden be disqualified.
As a case in point, I actually had someone tell me that in their final year of meeting the income requirement, their baby came early. As a result of that they had to go on maternity leave, literally in the last month of that requirement. As a result, their income dipped when they went on that leave and that disqualified them, after having waited the entire time, getting the draw and all of that. There's no appeal mechanism for an extenuating circumstance to understand the situation and allow for the application to proceed. Right after the maternity leave, for one month the individual went right back to work, and their income went right back to where it was before.
I'd like to ask the witnesses to comment on whether or not we should a provision in Mr. Seeback's bill that would allow for the minister to consider a mechanism for appeal in this regard.
Maybe I can start with Mr. Kurland, and then we can go through to the other witnesses.