Mr. Speaker, the tourist industry has been very hard hit by the slowdown in international travel, due to the war in Iraq and the SARS crisis. Travel agencies are having problems dealing with the administrative slowness of Human Resources Development Canada so as to be entitled to the employment insurance's work sharing program, which they had, however, been entitled to after September 11, 2001, and they are personally appealing to the Prime Minister on this.
Can the Prime Minister explain why he refuses to respond to the appeals of these agencies, in their attempts to avoid massive layoffs and even closures?