Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Human Resources Development. The surplus in the employment insurance fund is $44 billion, a huge sum, and the EI system, as it has been butchered by the federal government, does not really meet the needs of fishers from the North Shore, the Gaspé, the Magdalen Islands, and all of eastern Canada.
Instead of giving us her cold speech on the mechanics of the system, should not the minister have agreed to adjust the system with special provisions for people working in the fishery, who have been seriously affected?