Mr. Speaker, currently close 1.3 million Canadians are out of work. Six out of 10 of those unemployed Canadians cannot access employment insurance benefits to help them get by. The government has made no new investments to improve access to EI benefits for those who need them the most.
In the Alberni Valley right now, we have seen a massive layoff of mill workers. One of the mills is actually closed and we do not know when it will reopen. It cannot get fibre because of failed practices by the current British Columbia government. Raw log exports have gone up tenfold in 10 years. Our boats are getting loaded with our wood and our jobs are getting shipped out of here.
In this budget, not only were we looking at ways we could better support those who needed to get their unemployment assistance, but we were looking for the government to actually find ways to help people in areas like the Alberni Valley, people in the forest sector in British Columbia, those who are facing a threat of losing their jobs and huge layoffs.
Maybe the government could show some compassion and actually invest in these workers and extend their unemployment insurance benefits instead of bailing out on them like the province of British Columbia has done.