I will tell you about something I personally experienced as an MP.
I held a public meeting with a number of citizens in the most rural area in my riding — which is mostly rural —, in a small municipality an hour and fifteen minutes east and west of the two main centres, separated by forests. In that area, the unemployment rate is quite high, so people are used to dealing with employment insurance. Fortunately, the unemployment period is relatively short during the year since the forest industry keeps that region dynamic from an economic standpoint, except for short periods during which roads freeze and thaw, and the movement of wood must be interrupted. So, the unemployment period is very short, but the unemployment rate is quite high.
The goal of the public meeting was to find out how the employment insurance service was working in the region, if the call centre was functional, and if the service and answers given by the employment insurance personnel were adequate. I was pleasantly surprised to see that all people in attendance were satisfied. The statistics for this region show that 95 % of employment insurance requests were sorted out online. Very few people used the call centres, but when they did, they received good service. I was pleasantly surprised.
What do you think about that? Is that success due to the seasonal — therefore, predictable — nature of unemployment there?