Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for this very important, very pertinent question about the 360-hour eligibility threshold.
It is important to have a universal threshold. For instance, my riding is divided into two main geographic areas. If two people work for the same company but live 50 km away from one another, they do not have the same eligibility threshold. If the company is forced to shut down after its employees have worked 300 hours, some will have access to EI while others will not. It also depends on the context. They might be seasonal workers.
It is therefore important to our economy to have a universal threshold of 360 hours, which I think is reasonable, in order to help our workers.