Human Resources committee  Thank you very much for having me. It has been a wonderful experience. I've never experienced this before. I'm usually the person asking the questions, not answering them. And thank you very much, Ms. Hughes, for inviting me down to Ottawa.

Human Resources committee  Thank you for the question. Quite frankly, I would be insulted with that comment if it were made to me. I was on EI and I went back to work after the mines closed. EI is the kind of thing that's there for those who need it. I worked for 15 years without any apparent problems.

Human Resources committee  First of all, the dynamics arose out of devastation. We lost about 4,500 direct mining jobs, and at that time our population was about 16,000 people. If you extrapolate that to any normal-sized city, that's economic devastation, to say the least. Now, the EI benefits that we rec

Human Resources committee  Thank you very much. I'm here today to provide my personal opinion as a municipal leader, the mayor of the city of Elliot Lake. I'm also a member of a local District Services Administration Board and will be dealing with Bill C-280. It's my first time as well, Mr. Chair, to pres