Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure and a privilege to rise to discuss this important private member's motion, brought forward by my colleague, the member for Sydney—Victoria.
The moral measure of any government is how its society treats its most vulnerable people, its children, its elderly, its poor and its sick. In Nova Scotia, we hear constantly about the challenges that face our health care system. As a federal representative, so many of the day-to-day decisions when it comes to health care are driven by the provincial government. It is frustrating to hear people raise everyday concerns. It could be someone just like us, our sister, father or mother. Oftentimes we feel frustration because there is not as much we can do at the federal level to help deliver those day-to-day services we hear so much about in our constituency office.
There are a number of ways the government can support the vulnerable and the sick. One of them is staring us in the face with the motion before us. The motion is very simple. At its core, it recognizes there is a problem that sickness benefits do not extend for a long enough period to provide people with the coverage they need. By supporting the motion, we will get the information we need to execute on a policy that will provide that coverage and ensure that people have the financial support they need to get through times of extraordinary difficulty.
As the member said during his remarks, this is not only the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do.
We can all appreciate the importance of employment insurance. It exists for a number of reasons, to help people when they need it most and to help people who need it most. In Atlantic Canada, the predominance of our seasonal industries require that EI is there at certain times of the year for people who find themselves out of work but do not want to leave home. My family benefited significantly from the EI program for parents of critically ill children when our daughter was born with certain health concerns.
Our government made certain changes to expand parental leave, extending it to five weeks and giving more flexibility over 18 months for new parents as well. We extended the compassionate care benefit for up to six months for people who were taking care of loved ones. We reduced waiting periods and made a series of other changes to the important EI program.
However, there remains a critical gap for those people who find they cannot go to work because they have fallen ill. At its core, the problem is this. If one becomes sick, one can claim EI benefits for a period of 15 weeks. Conversely, if one gets fired or laid off, one can claim for a much longer period of time, up to 50 weeks. There is a dissonance between these two periods of time that just does not make sense to me. It is unfathomable to me that in 2019, in Canada of all places, one is better off to get fired than to get cancer.
This is a file I care very deeply about, because one of my constituents came into my office early on in our mandate. Her name is Kathy MacNaughton. She is a sweet person. She is everything we could hope for in a community member. She cares deeply about her family and her community. Kathy and her family were dealt one heck of a blow a few years back when her husband David was diagnosed with esophageal cancer at the young age of 50. David passed away not too long thereafter, and it put her family in an extraordinarily difficult position.
There are so many other families like Kathy's that are living this reality every day, and there is something we can do to help them. Kathy made a final promise to her partner before he passed that she would continue to fight until she effected the kind of change that would have helped a family like hers going forward. She met with my predecessor before the last federal election. She has met with me. She has met with local MLAs. She has even engaged in the political policy development process with parties to help us arrive at a policy we can agree on to make this change happen. If every citizen was as engaged as Kathy was, I cannot imagine what a wonderful country this would be.
We know the current policy is insufficient, because 35% of the people who claim EI sickness benefits max them out. I think the number is somewhere in the range of 135,000 people who max out these benefits every year. This is a serious problem. There are 135,000 Canadians who are not receiving the benefits they need because they have become sick.
I note that this year one of the only three recommendations the Canadian Cancer Society has put forward in advance of the next federal budget is to extend EI sickness benefits to 26 weeks. I have met with its representatives in my office. This is something we can and must do.
It is a fabulous opportunity to make a real difference in people's lives. If we invest in people when they fall ill, they will be better able to return to the workforce.
In Kathy's example, her husband was earning about $6,000 a month before he was diagnosed. That was reduced to a small fraction, less than $2,000 a month when he qualified for the EI sickness benefits. When he finally did qualify for CPP near the end of his life, they were taking in $852 a month. Kathy describes herself and her family as one of the lucky ones. She was working and had some sort of insurance, as so many other families do. Imagine families trying to cover the bills for food or for a mortgage on $852 a month when they were previously taking in $6,000.
The fact is that we are setting off a spiral for so many families that may lose their homes, maybe choosing between keeping the lights on or having food for their kids. These are very real, practical choices that make a difference in the lives of people like Kathy. I made a commitment to her to work with my colleagues, including the member for Sydney—Victoria, who she had the chance to meet, to ensure that this happened. I will not give up on it until we see this change implemented in the law.
People who fall ill with something like cancer, serious heart disease or other terminal illnesses have better things to worry about. They should worry about spending time with their families and recovering rather than where their next cheque is going to come from. Show me a cancer survivor who is fully recuperated and goes back to work after 15 weeks. It is not realistic. Everyone in the House knows someone, probably loves someone, who has been impacted by cancer. To think that we assume in less than four months people are going to be fully recovered, the system is not fair the way it is today and we need to work to change it together.
The benefits of moving forward with the study the member has proposed are numerous. We should understand the cost of this step before we implement it. We should understand how many people are specifically affected. If there are certain people who are suffering from certain kinds of illnesses that are currently not getting coverage, that is helpful information that would come out in the course of the study.
One of the members of the Conservative Party pointed out that there may be regional difference in terms of what illnesses would impact people and who would qualify for this benefit. It would helpful to be made aware of that. As I mentioned, there are a number of frustrations that I have as a federal representative when I know how important health is to my constituents. There are policy items that we are removing the chains on, like moving toward implementing a pharmacare system in Canada.
In the last few years, we saw a transfer to the provinces that was the largest in Canada's history, with a specific carve out for mental health and in-home care for seniors. For provinces like mine, that is $130 million extra for mental health and $157 million for in-home care for seniors. However, it is so important that we are not just sending money to provinces and telling them to do what they want. It is important to realize we can provide the wraparound supports for families to ensure they do not fall victim to a vicious cycle when they are forced into poverty to cover the costs of their illness.
Every cancer survivor who I have spoken to has told me that it has taken an incredible economic toll on his or her family for little things like gas to the city. I am from northern Nova Scotia and most folks who are diagnosed with cancer are regularly making trips to and from Halifax. Those gas bills add up. For those who are able to afford a hotel room, it is still an issue, because hotel bills add up very quickly. We are thankful to have incredible institutions like The Lodge That Gives in our province. However, it is unreasonable in a community like mine, where the median income is just a shade over $20,000 a year, to expect people of those means, people who are going to be living on a pittance after their benefits, to afford the cost of travelling to and from the city, to stay in a hotel or wherever they can find a place. Frankly, they are usually not an environment that is best for their recovery.
By supporting the motion, we will have the information we need to confirm the right path forward is to extend EI sickness benefits so people can actually draw on the benefits of the fund they have paid into. In 2019, in Canada, it is not right to be better off to be fired than to get cancer. I will not give up on this until this change is implemented in law.