Mr. Speaker, we did make substantial improvements to the EI system to help those Canadians who need and deserve our help, such as five extra weeks and expanded work-sharing program, now protecting 130,000 jobs. We are looking at a promise that we made during the 2008 campaign, one that would allow access to EI benefits for self-employed workers on a voluntary basis. That is a major design change to the system. It cannot be done within a week, but we will have it ready for the fall.
In the House of Commons on June 16th, 2009. See this statement in context.