Mr. Benoit Cadieux at the Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities Committee

On October 19th, 2022. See this statement in context.

October 19th, 2022 / 5:20 p.m.

Director, Special Benefits, Employment Insurance Policy, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Benoit Cadieux

Thank you for your question.

Initially, the commitment was to have this extension in place by summer 2022. However, due to the pandemic, temporary measures were put in place to enhance the EI program and facilitate access. These temporary measures were applied until September 2022. Because of these measures, many Service Canada resources had to be mobilized to put these measures in place, but also to meet the higher than normal demand.

This explains why the implementation of the extension to 26 weeks of benefits was delayed until the end of 2022.

See context to find out what was said next.