Mr. Speaker, those are two good questions.
Are people in favour of paying more premiums? I have never seen workers rallying in the streets and saying that they were paying too much into EI but I have seen many people rallying in the streets and saying that they were not getting their EI. It is not the $1.80 per $100 that makes the difference to the workers.
The member said that the NDP has never put a motion forward in the House about the waiting period. As I said, it is not a waiting period. People do not get paid for the first two weeks. However, the NDP has put forward motions and bills in the House, as has the Bloc Québécois, to get rid of the two week so-called waiting period. I introduced bills in the House in 1999 but they were consistently refused by the Conservatives, the Reform or the Alliance, the whole association.
The member asked if this should be permanent? Yes, it should be permanent. Why should people be penalized when they lose their job. We should just pay them. The member himself said that it was his program, why do--