Mr. Speaker, we are talking about a serious matter today. This is no time for fooling around.
The issue of small weeks does not affect people who are unemployed in the usual manner. It affects those who work for a living every week that they have a job, for 20, 24, 25 or 26 weeks a year.
If the system is not extended, a person earning $450 a week for 20 weeks and $60 a week for six small weeks will receive benefits of $198, instead of the $245 the program now allows.
This is no joking matter. We are talking about salaries of $20,000 or $25,000 a year. Only people completely cut off from reality would laugh at such a situation. This is not a case of asking people to become more eligible. We are asking that benefits be reasonable, because the cost of this system for one year represents one half of 1% of the surplus in the fund.