Mr. Speaker, what changes? What complete balderdash. There is no rule, and there never has been. I doubt that there ever will be a rule that requires people to leave their province in order to receive EI benefits if they have lost their jobs in their province due to no fault of their own. That is completely ridiculous.
The statistics are clear. The member may want to invent political arguments, but one cannot invent the statistics. They indicate that fewer than a fraction of a percent of Islanders did not receive EI benefits because of the new program, to ensure that they were actively seeking available work in their communities.
However, at the same time that the member wants easier EI rules, he wants more temporary foreign workers in P.E.I. We think unemployed Islanders should come first for the available jobs.