Just to add a point, there was one phrase in Bob's answer that was the key to the success, and that was “maintain your benefits for the eleven weeks”. I think one of the structural problems that we have in EI right now is that it's not available currently for people who are in school or taking training. They lose those benefits. As a result, there's very little incentive to actually go out there to try to improve your skills and match your skills to employment opportunities. Of course, the challenge there is that if you expand EI into those areas, where are you going to find the money? You have to be willing to make some trade-offs on the other side, and I think there are all kinds of other areas where we could save in EI and fund it to make that transition.
On November 20th, 2006. See this statement in context.