Mr. Speaker, we do understand the hardships that people who are being laid off are facing. That is why we are proposing, in our economic action plan, to help over 400,000 people benefit from an additional five weeks of EI benefits. It will help 160,000 people, including long tenured and older workers, to get trained up so that they can continue to work, to provide food for their families. That is why we will be creating tens of thousands of jobs while we are renovating and building social housing for the most vulnerable.
In the House of Commons on February 6th, 2009. See this statement in context.