Madam Speaker, with thousands of jobs about to disappear because of the Conservatives' deep cuts, thousands of Canadians will need the social safety net to which they are entitled, employment insurance.
These workers have contributed all their working lives, with the help of their employer and without the help of the government, in order to have some security in difficult times. However, this government is looking for every conceivable way to reduce access to employment insurance, which is already at a record low.
Fewer than four in ten unemployed persons currently have access to employment insurance, even though all workers contribute to the fund. Unwarranted changes to boards of referees, reduced wages for temporary foreign workers, and the outrageous appropriation of the authority to define the notion of suitable employment point to one thing: the Conservatives' professed contempt for the workers of this country and their rights.
The Conservatives must amend Bill C-38 to give Canadians the support they need when they most need it.