Mr. Speaker, the member asks if I have listened to the economists. I was pretty pleased when I heard Mr. Drummond, the vice-president of the Toronto Dominion Bank and one of the top economists in the banking industry, say that the government should make changes to the employment insurance system to help people who have lost their jobs because it is hard on the economy. We should not transfer people from jobs to welfare. We should keep them in the labour market. They should be able to get a job one day and not just go on welfare and not go back to work.
Why did the Conservative Party not listen to that well-respected economist and make changes to the employment insurance system when it looked at its future fiscal projections? Why did it not take that into consideration when most workers across the country have requested changes to the employment insurance system? Only 32% of women qualify right now for EI and only 38% of men. Why does it not listen to the economists? We have listened to them.