Madam Speaker, these are obviously difficult times. A hundred thousand people have lost their jobs in the last couple of months. There were signals that EI would go through a major reform in this budget., but it was a little disappointing.
While we will support the budget, it is conditional and we will keep an eye on it.
There is money for retraining, which is positive. The government has added five weeks in EI on the back end. Perhaps two weeks upfront would have had more of a stimulative effect to get rid of the waiting period, which is an affront to workers who have lost their jobs. I think there is some confusion on that side.
I believe the last minister who spoke, the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, said that there was increased access to EI. If that is what she said, she is wrong. There is not. People are waiting up to 40 days. A woman in my riding is waiting 47 days for her EI benefits. People are waiting a long time.
I have talked to the member, who is our economic guru, about EI on a number of occasions. I know he understands it. Could he tell us some of the key things that we will be looking for in holding the government to account so that the workers of Canada have some support system as they lose their jobs in the coming months. What kind of measures on EI are we going to be looking at as we hold the government to account when the budget goes through?