When a person is sick and receives a medical diagnosis meaning that they cannot work, the person becomes eligible for EI sick benefits. That is not the problem.
The problem is that, among the 400,000 Canadians who claim EI sick benefits every year, about 151,000 of them need more than 15 weeks of benefits. By extending the benefit period to 26 weeks, we will be helping 120,000 of those 151,000 people. Yet that will still leave 31,000 Canadians per year for whom that is not enough.
If we receive royal assent and the bill is passed, with 26 weeks, that might help another 31,000 Canadians, without costing very much.
I would like the Parliamentary Budget Officer to examine the cost difference between the planned 26 weeks and the average of 41 weeks needed. For the 31,000 Canadians who are really badly off, the average amount of benefits would not be about $600 per week, but about $300 to $350 per week. Is it really worthwhile to penalize 31,000 Canadians by stubbornly debating 26 weeks versus 52 weeks?
This is an important matter now because measures have been proposed to modernize the EI program and the insurance companies are ready. It took 50 years to open the discussion, move forward and grant more than 15 weeks of benefits. The current proposal is 26 weeks, we need 52, but for the vast majority of the population, the average number of weeks needed is 41.
By limiting it to 26 weeks, we will be penalizing about 31,000 Canadians every year. Some of those Canadians are in each of our ridings. Not a week goes by without someone calling to say they are out of money. We must really resolve this matter and settle it for the next 50 years. I am asking you to think about it and talk to your caucus about it.