Mr. Speaker, back to the Minister of Finance. The employment insurance plan is not working. Even bank economists are predicting an unemployment rate of 8% in the new year.
The minister can say what he wants but in Ontario, for example, only 25% of the people who will be unemployed will qualify for benefits, the lowest of any province. In the last recession it was around 60% in the province of Ontario.
Why is the minister such a scrooge? Why this lump of coal for the unemployed? Why does he not ease the eligibility benefits and extend the benefits for the Canadian unemployed?