Mr. Speaker, I listened with great pleasure to the speech by my colleague who happens to represent the riding next to mine. We live in an area where there are a lot of seasonal workers, where people working in the forestry industry are experiencing hardship due to a slump in the U.S. market, and also as a result of the softwood lumber deal, which does not permit free trade and has killed a lot of jobs.
For years we have been saying that the intensity rule is a punitive measure that had nothing to do with the reality of the labour market. It took three years for the government to finally admit it.
Is it not eventually going to come to the same conclusion regarding the eligibility of women and young workers? Between 1993 and 1999, the percentage of women receiving regular benefits dropped from 63% to 38%. For young people aged 20 to 24, it dropped from 70% to 24%.
This means that we went from a plan that used to insure a majority of people to a plan that no longer insures women and young people.
Is the government not going to reach the same conclusion as it did regarding the intensity rule, namely that after having harmed people for several years it will come to the conclusion that this rule, aimed at tightening up eligibility, was only punitive and in no way aimed at putting people back to work and that we are faced with the same situation as with the intensity rule? Would it not be better for the government to act right away and put something in the bill that would make it easier for people to qualify?