moved for leave to introduce Bill C-297, an act to amend the Employment Insurance Act, 1997 (section 15).
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased, like my colleague from Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques, to introduce an amendment to this act to eliminate a rule known as the intensity rule, which imposes a sliding scale—from 55% to 50%—in the rate of benefits paid out to those regularly drawing on employment insurance.
We need only recall the technocrat speech delivered to us in question period and the insensitivity to those hit by unemployment, especially the seasonally unemployed and the frequent users, whom the minister wants to penalize with a 5% cut to their benefits.
In the face of this unfair rule, I propose the pure and simple abolition of the intensity rule.
(Motions agreed to, bill read the first time and printed)