Mr. Speaker, I would like to start today by adding my voice to those who are observing it as the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization's declaring a global pandemic of COVID-19. It was a Wednesday last year. I can remember it vividly. The next day, Thursday morning, the world seemed to change. I remember being in the government lobby. It was probably the last time I was there when it was packed full of people. I had this sense when I was leaving to go home that I would not be coming back for a while. Indeed, things have changed dramatically since then. Of course, we have to consider and remember all those lives lost as a result of this pandemic since then, but nonetheless, we are encouraged by what lies ahead with our being able to vaccinate our population and get back to life as normal.
This bill seeks to temporarily address the measures that are within the Employment Insurance Act to continue to help support Canadians and to continue to help them so that they have those supports they need as we get through the remainder of this pandemic. I am extremely proud to be part of not just a government, but indeed, a Parliament, that has come together on a number of occasions, quite often with very little discussion in advance, in the House. I know a lot went on behind the scenes, but we passed unanimous consent motions quite often to put supports into the hands of Canadians when they needed them the most. The CERB program, which later morphed into the EI changes that we made, and which of course are continuing to change in this legislation, is just one of those.
These were extremely anxious times for Canadians, especially at the very beginning of the pandemic when they were told to stay home and the programs had not yet been set up. To know that Parliamentarians came together to have Canadians' backs through it all and to give them the supports they needed really speaks a lot to the way we are able to come together when Canadians really needed it.
I realize that my time is extremely limited today, but I do want to add my support for this bill and for work that has to be done from this point forward to make sure that Canadians do get that support so they can see themselves through this pandemic and we can be more resilient and stronger when we come out of it on the other end.