Mr. Speaker, the employment insurance program no longer meets its own objectives, and many unemployed workers are being unfairly deprived of benefits.
Leading economists are desperately trying to get the government to understand that access to benefits must be expanded and the employment insurance program must be improved in order to stimulate our economy.
In addition to offering a social safety net and mitigating the effects of job losses, benefits help people avoid turning to social assistance and encourage unemployed workers to move towards better employment perspectives.
In these difficult times, why will the government not increase the rate of benefits from 55% to 60%? Why will it not calculate the rate based on the 12 best weeks in the qualifying period? Why not eliminate the waiting period? Why not relax the eligibility criteria?
What does this government have against workers? The NDP is calling for these changes in order to give workers hope.