Mr. Speaker, I can assure members that the government takes it very seriously when even one Canadian loses a job. I can assure the hon. member for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour that our government is very concerned. We are taking action to ensure that we minimize, as much as possible, the impact on Canadian families when they lose their jobs.
All of us in this place know the challenges many Canadians are facing in these uncertain global economic times, particularly, as unemployment rates rise. I think the member is ignoring the situation of the world itself and how great Canada's position economically is compared to the rest of the world. However, we are not, by any stretch of the imagination, ignoring the plight of Canadians, especially when they face the low demand by international markets and, indeed, ultimately job losses.
We understand the stresses that many Canadians workers and their families face and we empathize with them. During these difficult times, the priority of the Conservative government is to ensure that Canadians who are eligible to receive EI benefits receive these benefits as quickly as possible.
That being said, our government and the Department of HRSD have already taken steps to make significant investments to meet the increasing numbers of EI claims and those efforts continue today, and will continue into the future, in the best interests of Canadians.
To this effect, we have allocated $60 million for EI processing, including hiring additional staff, to ensure that Canadians who need help get that help as soon as possible. Beyond this, we have taken many steps to meet the increased demand.
In fact, we have hired or recalled additional employees and retirees all across the country to process claims more quickly. We have redistributed the workload to increase speed and efficiency and to help maintain consistent service levels across all regions of Canada.
We have listened to Canadians and we have reacted with speed and with steps that will help Canadians and their families facing job losses.
We have also increased overtime. We have increased the level of automation of claims processing. We have opened EI call centres on Saturdays, which will go a long way to help Canadians who are in need today and will process claims more quickly.
Through these measures, the department has processed significantly more claims nationally this year than over the same time last year, and we continue to take action to meet this increasing demand.
Let me also mention that under the Canada skills and transition strategy, the government will invest $1 billion over two years under existing labour market agreements so the provinces and territories can train an additional 100,000 EI eligible Canadians. The training is for their future and the future of Canada. This new money will support workers and their families in hard hit industries and regions throughout the country.
This government understands the needs facing Canadians at this time and we are doing everything possible to solve those needs and to do it in the best interests of Canadians, unemployed workers and their families.