Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Human Resources Development.
Last April 9, PACCAR announced that it was closing the Kenworth plant in Sainte-Thérèse, and this was confirmed in a letter that day to plant employees and the Quebec Minister of Labour. But yesterday the Department of Human Resources Development was still refusing to pay unemployment insurance benefits to laid off employees.
Does the minister find it acceptable that his department is depriving over 700 people of unemployment insurance benefits, when it is clear that PACCAR announced the closure of the Kenworth plant on April 9, 1996?