Mr. Speaker, once again I rise to present a petition to this House signed by many citizens in my riding, primarily from the Bonavista Peninsula area, from Port Blandford straight through to Trouty which was recently devastated by Hurricane Igor, as well as Port Union and the town of Bonavista itself.
The petitioners are calling for the permanence of EI pilot projects that affect their area. This allows them, for example, to use their best 14 weeks for employment insurance, as opposed to the last 14 weeks, which allows them to receive greater benefits, and, as a result, they do not to have to such things as banking hours and that sort of thing. Employers are calling for this, as well as employees, in this particular region. These are for targeted areas.
Currently, the government has extended these programs up until the end of June. The petitioners are hoping that the government will see that this is a reasonable measure in these areas and that it will make these programs permanent.