Mr. Speaker, the most recent change in the boundaries of employment insurance economic regions, carried out in 2000, grouped together some regions with widely different unemployment characteristics. The result was an increase in the number of insurable hours required to receive benefits and a decrease in the number of weeks for which benefits are paid. In short, the new boundaries were detrimental to workers in Charlevoix and Haute-Côte-Nord.
The deadline for reviewing the boundaries expired a year ago, while the transition measures to offset the adverse effects will end on October 7. Time is of the essence because it is the workers in seasonal industries, in particular, who will continue to suffer the effects of these delays if no concrete action is taken soon. Consequently, I ask the Conservative government to quickly extend the transition measures while we await the review of the boundaries. If it does so, this government will show that it is listening to the concerns of unemployed workers in the regions of Quebec.
These flaws in the employment insurance system make it clear that the Employment Insurance Act needs to be improved, in particular by introducing a single eligibility threshold of 360 insurable hours, as the Bloc Québécois has proposed.