Madam Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, this bill is about fairness. It is about removing a preferential benefit that is supplied under the EI act now to people who spend a year or less in prison. It allows people who have been released from prison to have an extended benefit that is not offered to law-abiding citizens who, through no fault of their own, lose their jobs or make a choice to take time off work.
There was some concern by my hon. colleague across the way about people being released from incarceration losing the money that EI would provide under this preferential treatment. In fact, as my colleague pointed out, a myriad of benefits are offered through the federal corrections system, halfway houses and organizations that help previously incarcerated people get jobs and get back into society.
Those things are available, but this bill is not about them. It is about removing a preferential EI benefit provision that applies to people who have committed crimes and are incarcerated for a year or less. That does not apply to average, hard-working Canadians who take time off their jobs to pursue other interests. They lose that benefit period, but people who go to jail do not. That is unfair, and we want it removed from the act.
I ask my colleagues across the way to gain a real understanding of this bill and the unfairness of that EI provision.