Thank you for the clarification, Mr. Speaker.
I am pleased to be speaking today in support of the bill introduced by my colleague from Verchères—Les Patriotes. Bill C-464, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code and the Employment Insurance Act, which would grant extended parental leave for multiple births or adoptions, is simply a way of levelling the playing field for parents of multiples.
This bill addresses a simple situation. Parents normally receive 35 weeks of parental leave and benefits per child, but that is not the case when parents have two or more children at once. That discrepancy is based solely on the children's date of birth. Birth or adoptive parents of twins or multiples are at a disadvantage.
This bill is designed to help these families by granting them more parental leave and providing adequate financial support. Parents could take as many as 72 weeks of leave for multiple births or adoptions. These 72 weeks could be shared between the two parents, depending on their needs. Obviously, every family's situation is different. We want this to remain flexible. The weeks could also be fully used by one parent.
Currently, neither the Canada Labour Code nor the Employment Insurance Act provides any flexibility for parents who give birth to or adopt multiple children. This is unfair to parents of twins, triplets, quadruplets and so on, and to parents who adopt more than one child at the same time. On the Service Canada website, the section on employment insurance maternity and parental benefits simply states the following:
The number of weeks of EI maternity or parental benefits you are entitled to receive does not change, even if you have a multiple birth...or if you adopt more than one child at the same time.
Having more than one child at a time may seem to be an uncommon occurrence, but it is not at all unusual and is happening more and more frequently. In 1980 in Canada and Quebec, twins occurred once per 54 births. In 2010, twins occurred once per 33 births. The rate has gone up.
Since 1981, the incidence of multiple pregnancy has increased by 50%. Today, 3% of all pregnancies are multiple pregnancies. With twin births alone, 6% of children born today would be affected by this legislation, not to mention pregnancies involving more than two children and adoptions.
This is not a huge number, but it represents many children who will have less access to their parents early in life because they are multiples. We want to give all newborns the same opportunity.
The rate of twins born in Canada has increased dramatically, according to Statistics Canada and Health Canada, and the rate of multiples even more than that. Each day, more than 26 Canadian moms give birth to multiples. This increased number of multiple births can be seen largely in consequence, but not a direct effect, of the trend toward women delaying childbirth. More and more women look to complete an education, establish a career and gain economic stability before starting a family. Studies show that the older a woman is, the greater her chance of conceiving twins or multiples.
That is why it is important to support the bill and acknowledge that the situation of moms is changing and that more multiples will be born. We need to understand that these children and parents need to be treated fairly within our employment insurance system. We should always be thinking about equal treatment when looking at laws in the House.
I want to briefly refer to a book written by an expert on the matter, Gisèle Séguin, who is the mother of twins. For many years, she was very active in the twins parents association in her area.
Her book, Jumeaux: mission possible!, was published by the CHU Sainte-Justine Mother and Child University Hospital Center. According to the author, a multiple pregnancy is automatically a risk pregnancy. I believe my colleague mentioned this. A multiple pregnancy can result in premature birth. The children require more care. Being pregnant with more than one child probably changes people's plans, such as returning to work as quickly as anticipated. In any event, a child who is more at risk requires more care from the parents.
Moreover, the financial stress makes life difficult for parents. Raising twins costs twice as much as raising one child or two children born at different times. There are twice as many diapers, high chairs, and car seats to buy. Everything needs to be doubled. When children are not the same age, some things can be reused. But with twins, two bicycles or two sets of hockey equipment are needed at the same time. With a multiple birth, the cost of education doubles or triples. We must bear in mind that raising multiples requires more energy and results in greater financial stress.
I think that my colleague has found a good solution to this problem, one that will help us support families with multiples.
I hope that the Conservatives and all members of the House will acknowledge that this is a question of equal treatment for the children and parents in the case of a multiple birth. I am very pleased that my colleague has introduced this bill.
In closing, I am asking all my colleagues to support this bill.