Human Resources committee  On that question, I would say that there is indeed a fairly broad consensus about the stimulus nature of employment insurance investments. The recipients tend to have what economists would note is a high propensity to consume. The money actually does--

Human Resources committee  Yes--the money flows into the economy. That's part of the rationale for including it in the stimulus package of the budget, in addition to dealing with the needs of the recipients. Above and beyond the general point of EI contributing a stimulus, there was no comparative analysi

Human Resources committee  Thank you. Yes, there is indeed the type of churn in the labour market you're referring to. That's a factor here. As well, the operational implications of taking a large additional volume of claims for a potentially very short period of time is a consideration around the two-

Human Resources committee  The back-end payments pertain to people who are already on claim, so it's a longer duration for the same claimants, who would otherwise run out of their benefits.

Human Resources committee  I'll let my colleague Scott respond to that, but the reference to employment insurance is just a reference per se for the calculations of the wage earner protection program. Scott can speak to that.

Human Resources committee  I can respond to that question. I can't speak to any comparative analysis per se, but I would say that there was some work done, clearly, on the two-week waiting period, and one of the concerns was the operational impact that has on the organization. You mentioned the volume of

Human Resources committee  I wasn't there.

Human Resources committee  I'm going to turn to my colleague Liliane Binette for that question.

Human Resources committee  Yes, that is right, $30 million annually.

Human Resources committee  I would have to ask the financial director in order to get a sense of what level of spending occurred.

Human Resources committee  The initiative was comprised of 90 projects, and the annual budget was $30 million. As I said, I will be able to get back to you with the current level of spending.

Human Resources committee  The program was run according to each province's recommendations. The province's proposals were submitted.

Human Resources committee  We will forward that information on to the committee.

Human Resources committee  As indicated in the budget, the government has undertaken to invest $2.9 billion. The costs are due to additional employment insurance investments.

Human Resources committee  The money is coming from the government's general revenue.