Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good afternoon, minister. It's always a pleasure to speak with you. Not surprisingly, I am going to talk to you about seniors and workers.

In preparing my questions for today, I realized I would have preferred to talk to you about the employment insurance reform you previously tabled. I would have preferred to talk about the poverty eradication strategy that has already been presented. I would have preferred to talk about the guaranteed income supplement that would already have been automatic for everyone. However, that is not the case.

In response to a question from my colleague about employment insurance, you said you intended to repair the damage from the 10 years when the Conservatives were in power. I would like you to go back much further than that because the Liberal government began to change the nature of the employment insurance program in 1996. That program is no longer the social security net it should be and has abandoned the primary mission it had when it was created in the 1950s.

We should not overlook the fact that the federal government has not contributed a cent to the employment insurance fund since the 1990s. That's why the employment insurance reform must achieve much more than merely undo what the Conservatives have done. Ultimately, they merely consolidated the Liberal reform of 1996.

As you know, I have addressed you many times in question period about the guaranteed income supplement and sickness benefits. And, by the way, I'm going to go back to the black hole. I have also questioned your parliamentary secretary several times during adjournment debates. Every time, your fine words have caused considerable frustration among workers, from New Brunswick and elsewhere, who still find themselves in a black hole. Things have come to the point where I have to ask you questions and say a prayer because we no longer know what to do with these families that have nothing to eat.

Every time, there are reactions related to sick persons, and matters have come to such a point that doctors in my riding call me because they have patients who want to go back to work after exhausting their 15 weeks of benefits, despite the fact they have to continue treatment. I was told during an adjournment debate that a minority of people were in that situation. And yet, according to the information we have obtained, 30% of sick persons exhaust their 15 weeks of benefits. It was not for no reason that I gave that press conference with Marie-Hélène Dubé, who wanted to meet you, and that I introduced that motion, which we have not even debated here.

I am thinking about all those people who call me about your answers. Sixty per cent of people who have contributed to employment insurance all their lives are not even eligible to receive it. They tell me they're not even entitled to a single week of benefits.

The committee is conducting a study on learning. Young people have unstable employment and never manage to accumulate enough hours. Yes, we are experiencing full employment, but some people are still experiencing unstable employment, and I no longer know what to tell them or how to respond to them.

Consequently, my questions will concern matters that I would have liked to see resolved. Soon you will be entering the fourth year of your mandate, and what I am talking to you about is set out in your mandate letter. I find it unfortunate that I'm asking you these questions at the start of that fourth year.

As my colleague mentioned, on September 6, 2016, you were invited to appear on Le Téléjournal. In response to a question, you said this would happen following year. You even expanded on that later in the interview, saying that the answer was very clear and that you had not lost sight of the issue. That's what you said, minister.

My question is very simple. When will you keep your promise to review sickness benefits, bearing in mind these people who currently have no income and who must devote their energy to getting better rather than to paying their bills?

Brigitte Sansoucy

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