Human Resources committee  The biggest difference I probably saw was with the seasonal workers in the Atlantic provinces and in Quebec. Quebec was very much a part of that as well as the seasonal workers. Yes, I would say that was different from what I saw out west until now, and now we're seeing a difference out west and we're hearing a lot of difficult challenges for folks out west.

Human Resources committee  There was a wonderful segment on CBC's The Current with Anna Maria Tremonti. She was in Newfoundland talking mostly to the men who had gone out west to work and the effect that it had on the family. She was interviewing the wives and the children as well as interviewing these men when they're forced to do that and then come home.

Human Resources committee  I had earlier referenced that I gave you the summary, but I have a longer paper on it that is being translated. Once you get that if there are any questions that we didn't have the opportunity to get to—you have my card as well—please send an email and I would be more than happy to talk to you about it.

Human Resources committee  It doesn't make sense.

Human Resources committee  I do agree with that. It's often difficult to get those exact statistics, but I think that's why it all has to be looked at. I think we'd get better numbers if we knew, truly.... I think it would be good to look at having more uniform entrance requirements for EI benefits across the country and at changing how those numbers are counted.

Human Resources committee  Actually, that particular question is not something that we've had the opportunity to really look at, so I don't have an answer for that right now. But I think it's interesting that you raised it, so we'll certainly turn our minds to it.

Human Resources committee  I think that's another reason why we shouldn't have all those economic regions and different rates across the country. I go back to the example of Prince Edward Island, where they took a very small geographically situated island and split the economic rate, so my neighbour, with whom I worked in the same plant, could have more access to EI, longer access to EI, than I could, simply because I was living on the edge of Charlottetown, the urban area, and she was living at the edge of the rural area.

Human Resources committee  No, I'll tell you what that did. That put undue pressure on claimants who are already in a terribly stressful situation because they've lost their jobs. They have a mortgage. They have a car. They have a family. They have children in university. They have everything else, every bill that you and I have.

Human Resources committee  We have, actually, and one of the things I hear pretty consistently from my stakeholders is that 15 weeks is not enough for EI sickness benefits. As I referenced earlier, a caregiver can now have 26 weeks while the person whom they are looking after only has 15 weeks, so there's a kind of disconnect there.

Human Resources committee  Yes, absolutely. The 910 hours was just so difficult for folks. As to making that change, as is proposed by this government, we fully support that; however, we would like to see it be uniform across the country. As I said before, when you lose your job, you lose your job. You don't have a job, and it might be easier in one region, but it might still take you six weeks to find a job.

Human Resources committee  The whole temporary foreign worker issue is related to EI. I understand that. It is not as simple as “you finish one job and there is a job there that you can do”. It's not that simple. I think that if you spoke to the people who live in these communities, you would get a better understanding of that.

Human Resources committee  They are losing their jobs. There is no work for them. There are no jobs. Is that what you're asking?

Human Resources committee  There are no jobs. That is the reality of our economy right now. There are no more jobs.

Human Resources committee  Of course there are differences. Canada is a very large country, and the situation in the Maritimes and the province of Quebec, where there are a lot of seasonal workers, is very different than the situation in western Canada, for instance. It is very difficult to compare all the regions against one another.

Human Resources committee  One of our top priorities in my past four and a half years in working at the commission is to advocate for the protection of that fund. We've seen $57 billion over the last, I don't know, 20 years—I'm not sure—disappear into general revenues instead of going into the EI fund. The purpose of EI in the very beginning, in 1940, under Joseph Sirois, was to act as a buffer between jobs, which today is what we know as regular benefits.