moved for leave to introduce Bill C-500, an act to amend the Employment Insurance Act (waiting period).
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce this bill today, following repeated requests by workers. We know that the Employment Insurance Act provides for a two week waiting period during which people who have lost their jobs are not eligible to benefits.
In the present context, where eligibility rules have been tightened, I think this is a simple way to give an important part of the EI fund surplus back to workers when they are unemployed. A person who earns $400 a week would receive two more weeks of benefits at $220, which would give that person an interesting refund on the EI fund surplus.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)