Human Resources committee  First, we are in favour of maintaining the current division between employee and employer contributions. It would be good to re-establish a government contribution to the financing of the program, for example, to cover the costs of support measures or to actively fund measures.

Human Resources committee  First, it is very important that the program's eligibility criteria be changed. Thirty years ago, the employment insurance program covered eight out of 10 people. Now it's four out of 10. So half as many people are covered. When it switched to eligibility criteria based on the number of hours worked, entire categories of people were excluded.

Human Resources committee  It's an issue we are very concerned about. In fact, I mentioned it in my opening remarks. We are very concerned about the plight of workers, many workers, who have lost their jobs and still do not see when they will be able to get them back. In the aviation sector, for example, all flight attendants in Quebec who are members of the FTQ have lost their jobs, whether at Air Canada, Air Transat or another airline.

Human Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for welcoming me today to talk about employment insurance. From the outset, I must tell you that the FTQ is counting heavily on the current government to carry out a complete and comprehensive reform of employment insurance.

Finance committee  Thank you for your question, Ms. Koutrakis. From the beginning of the health crisis, any of our actions on a potential return to work have been focused on workplace health and safety. With respect to construction, we've taken steps to ensure that workers have access to water for handwashing at the work sites.

Finance committee  That's an interesting question. Earlier I mentioned certain sectors for which the government will have to extend the CERB. We've been calling on the government for years to completely overhaul the EI regime. I'm talking about calculating the benefit period, the benefits themselves, the dispute process and the entire process to appeal decisions.

Finance committee  When the Prime Minister first started getting questions on this topic, in light of what was going on in Poland, Denmark and France, as you mentioned, Mr. Trudeau seemed to be somewhat open. Unfortunately, he later retracted and took a step back. We believe that if companies are getting assistance, that assistance should, of course, benefit the companies, but it should also benefit the workers.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Ste-Marie. I think that the CERB needs to be extended for workers in these sectors, for as long as possible. We think that the health crisis will affect the cultural sector and the restaurant and hotel industries for a longer period of time, which I also mentioned.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, thank you for the invitation and for this opportunity to speak to your committee today. The Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec, or FTQ, represents 600,000 people in Quebec. These are extraordinary circumstances, and the federal government's response was just as extraordinary, in light of the financial commitment made by the government.