Indeed, it is worth mentioning that, Mr. Guimond. In the Charlevoix region, the industry is seasonal. The work is seasonal because of our industry. Your typical seasonal worker in the Charlevoix region is a woman employed by the hotel or restaurant industry. I see women filing through the office as early as September. As soon as tourism starts to drop off, these women inquire as to whether or not they are entitled to employment insurance benefits. Often times, these women are not entitled to benefits because they have not accumulated enough hours. They are not included in the statistics.
We were talking about statistics a little earlier. Those people who have not accumulated a sufficient number of hours to be eligible for benefits do not even fill in an application form. Are they included in the statistics? We no longer see those people and we therefore must be careful. Earlier, we talked a lot about statistics. This too is important data. In the Charlevoix region, we have the good fortune at present of having pilot projects which are of great assistance to new entrants or reentrants, to the people coming back, who apply for benefits every year. In my view, these pilot projects should bring about permanent measures. They demonstrate the importance of improving the employment insurance system. If there were no room for improvement, why did the federal government launch these pilot projects? I believe there are signs of uneasiness. These pilot projects are a good example of that.
In the Charlevoix region, the women who work are for the most part employed in seasonal industries. When I see them in my office, I congratulate them and tell them that they are making miracles with very little. Theirs is the lot of many single parents. I talked earlier about women who are ill, who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and who have children to care for. What do we do? I am a single parent with cancer and I must fight for my life, for the livelihood I need to raise my child. These are realities that we see everyday in our work.
Today, things are looking up; we are trying to bring change. However, we must remember that there are people at the bottom who are fighting for their dignity, who are fighting to earn their living. In the Charlevoix region, it is a glaring reality, it is the daily lot of many people.