I have another petition, Mr. Speaker, with regard to employment insurance.
It is a very timely petition, given the fact that the budget did not act on improving EI accessibility for workers across the country. In fact, not a single new person will be able to access employment insurance. All the government is proposing to do is extend the benefit weeks by five weeks.
The petitioners are asking that EI be reformed so that claimants would actually get 55% of their benefit back and there would be greater eligibility. They particularly note that $54 billion was taken from the employment insurance fund and not returned to workers and that is outright theft.