Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to support Bill C-12, an act respecting employment insurance.
The proposed employment insurance system is the result of more than two years of consultations with Canadians. This legislation will help Canadians get back to work. It will strengthen work incentives, ensure fairness and help workers adjust to economic change.
Today I will focus my remarks on the effects of the legislation, the effects it will have on women in the workforce and on seasonal workers.
The idea that women will be penalized by changes to employment insurance has become a familiar refrain from the opposition benches, but do not believe it. One of the two overriding goals of the new system is to make it more inclusive than the old one.
Employment insurance legislation recognizes the importance of the participation of women in the workforce. Women make up nearly 70 per cent of Canada's part time workforce. Many of those women are not insured for UI or maternity benefits. Only those women who work for one employer 15 hours a week for 20 weeks are ensured for UI and maternity benefits. Many women hold two or three part time jobs but together they do not have the benefits, but they make work 30 or 40 hours a week or more.
Under the new system, however, an additional 270,000 Canadian women who work less than 15 hours per week at any job or who juggle several jobs at once will finally be eligible for employment insurance and maternity benefits.
Employment insurance provides opportunities for women to increase their employment by lifting the 15 hour glass ceiling. Under the UI system many employers restricted part time workers, particularly women, to less than 15 hours a week in order to avoid paying premiums. With the new EI system all hours count toward a claim. This means men and women who hold down several jobs will now be fully insured if they take sick leave, maternity or paternity leave or if they should lose one of their jobs for any reason.
Employment insurance also guarantees that anyone who earns $2,000 or less a year will have their premiums refunded. This initiative alone will benefit 1.3 million young Canadians. An hour based system ensures all workers are treated equitably and that non-standard workers are brought into the system.
More important, the hour based system will benefit seasonal workers. Under the current UI system it makes no different whether a person works 15 hours a week or 50, the result is the same. The hour based system is a better measure of work effort and therefore provides greater incentive for seasonal workers to remain employed as long as they can.
A good example are the workers in the fishing and forestry sectors who work long hours during the weeks of available employment. Under the current system there is no incentive to work longer than the minimum number of weeks required. More often than not someone has come into my office and told me: "I worked 14 weeks and I thought I was qualified. I learned that this month I need 15 weeks because the level of employment and jobs available are a little higher". They have worked to jerk the system around to what would meet their needs. This no longer will be acceptable. The more hours worked, the more available the benefits will be.
It is important to remember that 96 per cent of current UI claimants will continue to be eligible for benefits. Furthermore, all claimants start with a clean slate on July 1, 1996. That is, they will not be penalized for previous use of the UI system.
Three recent amendments to the legislation to ensure that Atlantic Canadians and seasonal workers are treated more fairly have been brought forward. The first amendment answers concerns about gaps or breaks in employment. This amendment will allow claimants to count back 26 weeks to find the minimum number of work weeks specified by the divisor in their area. In these cases claimants will be eligible to ignore weeks of no earnings and instead have only weeks of actual employment. This amendment
alone will bring $246 million into certain regions where there is more difficulty with employment and more seasonal work, and it will be spread evenly across the country.
The second amendment modifies the divisor to calculate those weekly benefits. This amendment will also benefit high unemployment areas and result in $95 million extra coming into those poorer regions.
The third amendment addresses Atlantic Canadians' concerns about the intensity rules. This will exempt those families of low income, less than $26,000 a year. Those people who receive a reduced benefit as a result of working while on claim will be given a credit for the purpose of the intensity rule.
There are additional assets and benefits to this new legislation; the family income supplement, the wage subsidies, the self-employment assistance program and the skills and loans grants as well as earning supplements. Additionally, child care support will be available for women receiving employment benefits.
This legislation is an enhancement to encourage work, to encourage longer periods of work and to ensure a fair, equitable disbursement of wages throughout our system. It will actually create work for Canadians. The government promised to create jobs for Canadians and this legislation is part of that commitment.
For more than two years now I have been holding town hall meetings. I have sat with labour leaders in Nova Scotia, as well as the membership. I have travelled to the rural coastal communities throughout my riding to hear from seasonal workers. Some of those workers said "the system has been there and we have used it, perhaps even abused it".
One fisherman said to me: "I earn $40,000 to $50,000 a year as a lobster fisherman and my wife helps out so we both are eligible for benefits. Therefore through the winter months, after a two month lobster season of earning that much money, we go on to the UI system and we have a steady income coming all year. I am ashamed to tell you that because the kid over on the gas pump who is earning $5.15 an hour pumping gas pumps gas all year long, 52 weeks a year. That kid is subsidizing me; he on minimum wage and me taking $50,000 out of the system as an employer, as a fisherman, plus UI benefits.
"I am ashamed to say it, but it has been the system and I have continued to use it. I am glad to see you are correcting these inequities so that our young people, women and those who have not had as much opportunity will now have a sense of fairness and part in the system where they can work".
My constituents want this bill passed. They have been part of the discussions and part of the debate. I congratulate the minister for his sense of fairness, his determination, as well as the committee for listening because we have brought amendments forward and we have listened to those people, in particular where there are more seasonal workers and where there is a higher rate of unemployment.
The legislation is long overdue and we have spent too long actually discussing it, almost up to two years. I have no problem with suggesting all members support this bill and I encourage their support to pass it as quickly as possible.