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After meeting with jobless Calgarians on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he knows more needs to be done to help those “who’ve seen the rug pulled out from under them” — though he made no firm commitments about his government’s next steps.

At the downtown Kerby Centre, Trudeau held a roundtable to discuss reforms to the employment insurance system contained in the Liberal government’s first federal budget last week.

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Following the meeting with about a dozen people who are either receiving EI or applying for the assistance program, or who have already seen their benefits run out, Trudeau told reporters there had been an “honest conversation” at the table.

“It’s a reminder, in talking to individual families who are facing very, very real challenges, that every single Canadian is not just part of the economy and the system, but is an individual with challenges,” said an emotional Trudeau.

“As effective as a government can be in addressing large systemic problems, the very scale of the challenges we’re facing sometimes leave me as an individual wishing I could do more to help every single person that I get to hear from directly.”

“I have to stay focused on the big picture and how we create a system that will both develop the kind of resilience we need to make it through this downturn, and the strength and diversification we need to deal with the next time it might happen.”