Mr. Speaker, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner is a constituency that is near and dear to my heart, because during the last general election campaign the federal NDP candidate in that riding was a woman named Erin Weir. Had two MPs with exactly the same name been elected from the same party, I believe it would have greatly improved Hansard in this assembly.
But the member for Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner mentioned the large increase in EI use in Medicine Hat, and of course the main reason for that is a deterioration in labour market conditions, which we have also suffered in Saskatchewan. Another reason for it is that the federal budget did provide an extension of EI benefits across Alberta, and in most of Saskatchewan except for the city that I represent.
Could my colleague comment on the federal government's decision to leave laid-off workers in Regina out of the EI extension provided everywhere else in Saskatchewan and across his province?