Human Resources committee  We've already sold it. We have a Canada child tax benefit that provides a basic income to families and it's shown that it does not have that negative work effect that people fear. In the results of the Ontario pilot, even though they're truncated, all of the early results show that what that security did was enable people to do a better job of economic activity to be able to get to work and that sort of thing.

Human Resources committee  I'm not sure that I can elaborate on a number programs that do that. My focus is really on income security, and the income piece. We have been particularly focused on looking at programs that do that for Canadians in very broad ways that aren't directly tied to labour force participation.

Human Resources committee  There are a number of effects. If you have fewer people able to access the job market, and in Canada—

Human Resources committee  Oh, I'm sorry.

Human Resources committee  I would say certainly. I think there are many good things in the system that are working that way and need to continue to work that way. My major concern and the concern of people in our network, looking more broadly at the economy, is to identify who the people are who are in the most precarious situations who are not going to get access to those kinds of benefits, EI and—

Human Resources committee  Yes, there have been improvements. I started working with Employment and Immigration 30 years ago. It was better then.

Human Resources committee  I say it decreases it.

Human Resources committee  More security, as shown by Canadian benefits like the Canada child benefit, means more productivity, more access to the economy and more economic activity.

Human Resources committee  Yes, absolutely. I want to pick up on what the gentleman from the IRPP said as well. I think the focus really does need to be on income, not just for those already living in poverty, or close, or those who have precarious employment today, because those precarious situations are uncertain.

Human Resources committee  It's because of all the changes in regulations. Chris will know the details much more clearly than I, but we've been talking about women and looking at the gender aspects of this. Within EI you see these paradoxical things where you have the expansion of maternity and parental benefits, which is great for those who qualify, but an earlier study that I'm aware of shows that a lot of the women who need that support most are going to be least able to get it because they're living in precarious situations.

Human Resources committee  —reaching the minimum hours, having the required time periods.... Very often a second or subsequent childbirth is difficult because you have the labour force interruptions related to the first child you are raising, and because it's based on income, your options for being able to remove yourself temporarily from paid work to raise your children is really limited because of the financial pressure.

Human Resources committee  Thank you very much for the opportunity to appear before this committee. We'll have a written brief that will follow shortly. Today with my limited time I want to highlight just a few points. I have four key points. I'm going to do a bit of history and then I want to talk mostly about the impact of precarious work on people.