Finance committee  Yes. Since we have been receiving these record numbers of applications since March 15, we have already processed some of them. All of the individuals who would have received less than $500, we are bumping up to that $500 amount. They may have received $350 last week and may this

Finance committee  Regarding that question, to be clear, people who have already applied to EI do not need to reapply. On application, they will not be processed and moved over to the Canada Revenue Agency for the payment of the benefit. It is Service Canada that will be paying all of the EI applic

Finance committee  Regarding the previous question, there are technology issues on this line. My Department of Finance colleagues, both Michelle Kovacevic and Andrew Marsland, have been trying to get in to respond, but they are having difficulties. It's not that they're not trying to reply. It's ac

Human Resources committee  Certainly. There has been a lot of use of the term “dropped calls”. There are a couple of things we'd like to make very clear. We do not hang up on clients. Clients may choose to hang up. As Leslie described, there are times when a client might hang up after 10 seconds, or five

Human Resources committee  They are interrelated pieces. Certainly, clients not being able to get through, and waiting, is a technology problem. How long they have to wait ties to the technology, but also the availability of staff.

Human Resources committee  I would like to say that, since the implementation of the new system three weeks ago, the waiting period is less than three minutes. There are various reasons for this. Of course, 100% access helps, and we aren't in a peak period for pensions.

Human Resources committee  Sure. There are maybe two key elements. With all of our online applications, we ensure that they are fully accessible. There's a testing that we have to do, and we ensure that we meet those standards. In addition, consultation with real clients matters as well. It's one thing t

Human Resources committee  That's right.