Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague's question this evening is about the Social Security Tribunal.
We have taken steps to actually increase the efficiency of this tribunal. We now have added 22 new employees to the tribunal. They will be working shortly.
We are doing what we can to make sure that all Canadians who have their claims appealed at the Social Security Tribunal are treated fairly and efficiently in a timely manner. That is why we have added more staff.
It is true that we did have a larger than expected backlog coming from the former tribunals, the former system, as we transitioned to this new system. This new system was put in place in 2013, and as I said, we have added more staff.
We are making sure that Canadians are treated fairly. We are seeing some good results from this. In fact, because we added an extra layer within the department, people are having their appeals heard within the department before they actually get to the tribunal. Now 90% of EI cases are actually being solved at the departmental level, before they actually have to go to the tribunal.
The new system is working. We did have a backlog. The backlog will soon be taken care of. We will have an efficient system that not only delivers better for the people who have their appeals heard at the Social Security Tribunal, but one which is also better for the taxpayer. It is a more efficient and better system.