Human Resources committee  No. The last time we looked at costing some of our proposals was about a year ago and parts of the information are still missing. For instance, the issues of exhaustees and duration have implications on calculations of the cost of implementing an entitlement of 50 weeks. So ther

Human Resources committee  Not only does it not work for those who lose their jobs and don't have access to benefits, but it doesn't work for communities. If you take a look at the ratio of beneficiaries versus unemployed ratio, that 40% we were talking about, it went up to close to 54% or 55% during the m

Human Resources committee  I would like to add that certainly, in the coming months, there will be a debate about how to raise premiums. There was already an announcement on that point in the last budget. The present situation is such that we are starting from a precise point in time for assessing the sit

Human Resources committee  The CLC position has always been to reduce it to 360 hours to qualify, up to 50 weeks. That was our position and is still our position. This bill is improving access in terms of access to benefits by reducing it to 360 hours, but it doesn't provide for increasing it up to 50 week

Human Resources committee  --going to be factored in, in that calculation?

Human Resources committee  No, I wouldn't agree with that. Despite the fact that there are parts of the information missing, when we factor in the level of contributions made over the last 10 years, before the crisis, with the accumulated $57 billion, we think that over time, with the stimulus it would bri

Human Resources committee  I wouldn't agree with that, actually, right now. If you take a look at what was paid into the system since 1996, and even factoring in the fact that we just went through one of the biggest economic recessions, the balance is still positive. There are still surpluses even when y

Human Resources committee  Yes.

Human Resources committee  Well, in order to estimate a cost, you'd have to find out how much there is and a lot of it is actually volunteer work. How much would you pay someone who volunteers in order to help brothers and sisters find another job, or where they are involved in their local unions or in the

Human Resources committee  No, I'm not dying to get in, and I hope I'll survive it. The first thing, of course, is that in order to find a job you need resources. You need...[Technical Difficulty--Editor]...to pay for your phone bill. You need to be able to go to the public library to get access to the In

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. On behalf of the 3.2 million members of the Canadian Labour Congress, I want to thank you for affording us the opportunity to present our views on the Canadian and world economy, and the next federal budget. Economists—including bank, OECD, International M

Finance committee  I agree with that analysis. I would even take it a step further. First, what is behind the federal government's situation in terms of balancing its books? There is a drop in revenue not only because there is a drop in economic activity, but also because there is a drop in tax ra

Finance committee  The answer to your question is no. This is not the way to go because those tax cuts are essentially for the benefit of companies that make profits. The less taxes these companies pay, the more profits they make. Are the profits then reinvested to create jobs? We are now seeing th

Finance committee  Yes, I will give them quickly. We have to think about the short term, but also about the long term and about building up capacity in order to retire in decent living conditions. Maintaining your purchasing power is something we are concerned about, and we should take a look at

Finance committee  Very briefly, we also could focus on the manufacturing sector and provide income tax credits to companies investing in new machinery and equipment and research and development, as well as the training of workers. This is a sector in need. It has been deeply affected in the last t