Mr. Speaker, the government is working hard to help unemployed Canadians return to work. Last year nearly 400,000 jobs were created and the unemployment rate has dropped to its lowest level in eight years.
Employment insurance represents a key element in our efforts to encourage job creation and economic growth for it removes the disincentives to work which existed under the previous system. It uses active employment measures to help unemployed workers to return to work, such as the $800 million investment in re-employment benefits and the $300 million transitional jobs fund which has created more than 300,000 jobs in the last two years in high unemployment regions.
Clearly EI is doing an excellent job of helping unemployed Canadians get back to work as quickly as possible. For this reason I want to express my support for this program and urge all members to work with us to make sure EI can continue to provide workers with the assistance they need and deserve.