Ladies and gentlemen members of the committee, thank you very much for this invitation, which arrived somewhat at the last minute. I was invited earlier today at around 2 p.m.
I have prepared some notes to make a presentation on the relationship between the employment insurance program, the required changes we're hoping for, and the gaping void in the budget and in this budget implementation act.
I'd like to point out one thing: The employment insurance program is the only social program that falls exclusively under federal jurisdiction. Back in the day, to create the unemployment insurance program, they even had to amend the Canadian Constitution, because social programs fall under provincial jurisdiction. So an unemployment insurance program was created in 1940, but the federal government has been doing a poor job administering it for quite some time. It's the only social program for which it is exclusively responsible.
Why is it doing a poor job? Significant cuts were made in the 1990s. We know the story. That made it possible to downgrade the unemployment insurance program, which became the employment insurance program in 1990, and subject it to a kind of straitjacket of cuts so that the program no longer met needs or expectations.
I don't feel I need to remind you of the state the employment insurance program was in at the beginning of the health crisis in March 2020, when it literally collapsed the week of March 16.
That's the reality: Our social safety net, the employment insurance system, is broken. That's why the federal government made a clear, specific commitment during the health crisis to improve, to make changes, to impose changes to the employment insurance program or to proceed with reform. The idea was to modernize it and make it a 21st‑century program. That's how the government, ministers and Prime Minister put it.
For example, I would like to remind members of the Liberal Party of Canada's commitment during the 2021 election:
Move forward with a stronger and more inclusive EI system that addresses gaps made obvious during COVID‑19...[W]e will bring forward a vision for a new and modern EI system that covers all workers...
I have the minister's mandate letter from December 2021. We see a mandate letter as a contract. The contract stated:
...by Summer 2022, bring forward and begin implementing a plan to modernize the EI system for the 21st century, building a stronger and more inclusive system...including workers in seasonal employment and...ensuring the system is simpler and more responsive for workers and employers.
The government undertook very lengthy consultations in 2021 and 2022. We took part in each of those consultations because we believed in them. We met with the most senior representatives of the Canadian government, who all told us changes would be made as planned by summer 2022.
No changes were made. It was postponed until fall 2022, from September to December, and then from December to February 2023. What did we see in the budget? Nothing. There's a void. There's absolutely nothing in the budget.
A few weeks before the budget, government representatives met with us. They told us that the changes announced would be included in this budget plan. Were we lied to? I ask the members, were we lied to? I believe we were. Were government representatives also lied to? I can't answer that.
Something didn't get done. In the meantime, the employment insurance program remains dysfunctional, doesn't do the job and does not adequately cover workers when they need to use the program.
We do not wish unemployment on anyone. Right now, the employment situation is going very well, but some people still end up in a precarious employment situation and sometimes have to rely on EI between jobs. This program, which is mainly aimed at the part of the labour force that works in precarious conditions, no longer does the job.
Who came out the winner here? What were those promises made again and again for years to us, our representatives and the people? There's nothing in the budget, except an announcement that the pilot project for seasonal workers will be extended. Why the void? However, in 2019, we were told that this pilot project would be improved and included in the legislation—