Mr. Speaker, I cannot speak specifically to all of the numbers and cases the member for Cape Breton—Canso seems to want to bring up, but I can say that the government is committed to delivering programs and services in an effective and efficient way.
Our government received a clear mandate from Canadians to eliminate the deficit, keep taxes low and continue creating jobs for Canadians.
A few years ago, we began to automate EI processing for greater efficiency. Over the next three years, EI processing will be consolidated into 22 large regional centres. We will ease the transition to a smaller workforce through attrition, reassignment and retraining. Affected employees will be considered for other available positions.
In these fragile economic times, we are working hard to make sure that we are investing in the priorities of Canadians and to ensure that their hard-earned tax dollars are put to the best use.
Our government is continually monitoring the performances of our services and technology to make improvements that meet the needs of Canadians.
We are implementing measures regularly to further improve service levels and help our employees continue to deliver results to Canadians.
Canadians want their tax dollars spent wisely, and we are taking full advantage of opportunities to modernize the delivery of employment insurance. Modernizing our services over the next three years will mean changes in the way we currently do business. Ultimately, it will allow for better, faster and more cost-effective services for Canadians.
For example, automation will soon be introduced with respect to the revisions of existing claims work all of which previously was done manually. Just last month we introduced changes to make it easier for employers to register and submit their records of employment electronically, a key requirement for automating claims processing.
As more employers sign up, we will eliminate an unnecessary paper burden on the system and continue our efforts to faster, more cost-effective processing of claims. We have also taken steps to reassign staff from non-core functions to support claims processing during peak periods.
We know that Canadians want efficient government that gives them value for their hard-earned tax dollars. That is exactly what we are doing and we are staying focused on that goal.