Evidence of meeting #51 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was welding.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Do you think that we could adjust the rules of EI further, beyond what's proposed in the bill—
Executive Director, Canadian Welding Association
That's exactly what I'm saying.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
—so that the recipient would use their entitlement as a wage subsidy rather than a wage replacement if they moved temporarily into a lower-paying job that accommodated the physical limitations of a pregnancy?
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Interesting. Have you modelled how such a proposal would work and what mechanisms would be involved, or are we still at the conceptual stage of that?
Executive Director, Canadian Welding Association
We're still at the conceptual stage.
I'm actually learning an awful lot as we go through the process of speaking to industry and government agencies about the new apprenticeship initiative we're trying to launch. As a result of the many conversations I'm having with various organizations and industry, we're being provided with various ideas.
Our plan for a new apprenticeship model that we're developing hasn't been finalized because it is still evolving.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Is this also an issue for women at the apprenticeship level, or do these pregnancies typically occur after the employee has received a ticket and is a full journeyperson in their trade?
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Theoretically, it could happen at any time, obviously, but what is the norm?
Executive Director, Canadian Welding Association
I don't think there is a specific norm.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Are there any specific policy changes that are needed to accommodate women in these circumstances who are still at the apprenticeship level, as opposed to those who are full-ticketed journeypeople in their trade?
Executive Director, Canadian Welding Association
There are none that I can think of right now. I don't have anything that we're developing to address that issue.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Are there any restrictions at a provincial level on the time frame in which a journeyman or journey woman must complete their apprenticeship in order to qualify to be licensed to practise the trade that make it difficult for a female worker who is pregnant to do so?
Executive Director, Canadian Welding Association
I think that if an employer is going to hire someone and the person they're hiring or interviewing for a position is already pregnant, that would be a very difficult situation for them to be put in and the likelihood of them employing that individual would be minimal.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Is it possible for the apprenticeship programs to be more flexible so that, for example, somebody who becomes pregnant during the course of their apprenticeship could spend the period of pregnancy doing their in-classroom theoretical training, which is perhaps less demanding on the body during the pregnancy and then return to the on-the-job portion of the apprenticeship once they have given birth and recovered from it?
Executive Director, Canadian Welding Association
That is absolutely possible. In fact, we have developed an online training program that we're offering for free to all the high schools in this country, and that program is also available to apprentices and college students as well.
Liberal
Liberal
Ramesh Sangha Liberal Brampton Centre, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the committee for giving good input regarding the study of Bill C-243 that we are doing regarding pregnant women in different type of jobs.
Alicia, your point was that before the pregnancy, preparation should be made for getting the benefits so that you start the benefits early to cover off your expenses. Could you elaborate on that? What benefits are you looking for and how do you suggest that the committee put those into the act?
As an Individual
There are two delays. The first delay is receiving your maternity leave benefits. I know that's across the board when you apply for EI. You are not allowed to apply for your maternity leave benefits until you stop working, the day you stop working. In my case, I filled out the forms when I was in labour. I stopped working that day. I worked the morning my child was born.
You can fill out the forms but then you receive your benefit a few weeks later. In my case, I had my child December 3, and I began receiving benefits at the beginning of January. There's a delay there in actually being approved.
The second delay is in receiving your child tax benefit, so that's a monthly per-child subsidy that we receive. It took over two months to receive that. Rather than being able to fill out the paperwork prior, knowing that we were going to have a child, we had to wait until she was actually born before we could fill out the paperwork, and then came the two-month waiting period before we received the child tax benefit.
A very low number of pregnancies are lost that late, so actually being able to fill out the forms within four to eight weeks before your due date would hopefully reduce that lag.
Liberal
Ramesh Sangha Liberal Brampton Centre, ON
The second benefit you're talking about is the Canada child benefit.
Liberal
