Madam Chair, as we tried to help all workers it became very clear that the employment insurance system was not set up to handle a pandemic situation. It obviously does not help those who do not pay into EI, but also people who cannot work because of child care responsibilities or people who are sick because of a national pandemic virus. When we took all of the workers out of EI for the period of the CERB, we did so knowing that eventually everybody would have to transition back into the EI system and that, at that point, we would have to tackle the very real challenges associated with getting millions of people back into a system that does not cover millions of other people.
Absolutely, we are looking at ways to transition those people back into the EI system who are EI-eligible and to continue to support workers who do not currently fall within the EI system as we look to a September date when, for many people, their CERB will have run out.