Mr. Speaker, my next petition again is on behalf of these same hard-working families. We know that a decade after the major reforms to the employment insurance program were enacted, it is even more difficult now to qualify and the benefits are less generous.
EI has been repeatedly cut since its high point in the mid-1970s, most recently in the early 1990s, and today only about 4 out of every 10 unemployed workers collect regular EI benefits, down from 80% in 1990.
The NDP has introduced eight bills that target more than 12 elements of the EI Act, including the removal of the waiting period, the 66% benefit rate as well as the length of the benefit period.
To that end, hard-working families in Hamilton are asking this House to enact the legislation introduced by the NDP and reform the EI program, so that it will properly support working Canadians who are out of work.