Employment Insurance Act  Madam Speaker, I thank my esteemed colleague. I wish I had more time. I am thinking about unemployed seasonal workers. Nothing has ever really been done about this issue, which is major. Unemployed workers in these sectors have to deal with an EI system that is unfair in terms of the benefit amounts and duration.

Employment Insurance Act  Madam Speaker, I will leave it up to my hon. colleague to develop these strategies within the NDP. I do not think the Bloc Québécois needs the NDP to develop its own strategies and positions. These kinds of questions, aiming to trip up one's opponents, probably make for good video clips on social media, but we do not need the NDP's advice, morals or strategies.

Employment Insurance Act  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his pertinent question on a topic I want to address. Yesterday in committee, I heard someone say that the job of the opposition is to oppose, but that is not how we see it. If that were true, we would essentially be constrained. The opposition's job is to suggest solutions and a vision, and to ensure that bills have the every chance to be passed in the best possible way.

Employment Insurance Act  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. I confess I would love to have an answer, because I really do not understand this situation. If the issue of EI reform had only come up recently, I could have said that we should perhaps take the time to examine it, but this problem is nothing new.

Employment Insurance Act  Madam Speaker, unfortunately, workers across Quebec and Canada are waiting with bated breath to see whether the House will pass Bill C-24, which is currently before us. These people are holding their breath because they are desperate to know whether they will receive EI benefits.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, we often hear them talk about helping Canadians. Nobody is against that. We all know there is a crisis. All these speeches about their record suggest the Liberals are frozen in time. They seem to be stuck back in March 2020, whereas we are in the second wave of the pandemic and need to get out of it.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, this motion raises a lot of questions and makes a lot of recommendations. If I understand correctly, the member is proposing loans with certain conditions for the aerospace industry. Does the member know that Canada is the only country that has not invested in aerospace?

Employment Insurance Act  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. I will not give a crash course on employment insurance. That is not my objective. It is no coincidence that the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities is going to conduct a study on this topic.

Employment Insurance Act  Madam Speaker, technically, incorporating this change into the bill would have been simple, because we would have amended many of the same sections. We understand that it is not the same thing for the government, and that this bill comes in response to an emergency. However, some people are feeling the urgency because they are no longer getting anything or will not get anything in the short term.

Employment Insurance Act  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. The problem is that we spotlight these injustices and inequalities on March 8 and then forget about them the very next day. There are ways to fix these problems. One way is a federal pay equity law, which Canada still does not have.

Employment Insurance Act  Madam Speaker, the crisis we are going through today has hit hard. The numbers speak volumes. In barely three months, at the beginning of the crisis, the unemployment rate hit 13%. In March 2020, 167,000 women were laid off compared to 96,100 men. This crisis has been especially devastating to women, who saw their unemployment rate spike from February 2020 to December 2020, from 37% to 48%.

Employment Insurance Act  Madam speaker, I seek the unanimous consent of the House to share my time with the hon. member for La Prairie.

Employment Insurance Act  Madam Speaker, the minister is right to say that several emergency measures have been brought in, that they expired and we had to renew them, as is the case for the bill before us. How does the minister foresee things going as of September 2021?

International Women's Day  Mr. Speaker, on this International Women's Day, I want to recognize the tremendous effort and sacrifices female workers have made during the pandemic. I say “female workers” because all of today's front-line professions are female dominated. A total of 82% of our caregivers are women.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I am pleased to answer my colleague, although her question is not directly related to my speech. In my opinion, no one is against paying tax. I personally am not against it, since that is what allows us to have social programs and redistribute wealth. It is precisely this issue that is at stake.