Mr. Speaker, the minister thinks that prolonging the benefit period by five weeks is the only solution. But that will only help 25% of claimants because not all unemployed workers collect benefits for the maximum possible period. In contrast, eliminating the waiting period would help 100% of claimants from the very beginning, which, in these hard times, would help everyone by supporting local economies.
If the minister really cared about unemployed workers who collect benefits, then why would she choose to help only 25% of them rather than 100% of them from the beginning? One does not preclude the other.