Madam Speaker, I would first like to thank my colleague for sharing her time with me and giving me a chance to speak to this important matter. I also thank her for her very touching and poignant speech. She is a tough act to follow.
How many people successfully recover from cancer in 15 weeks? I would also ask the following: How many caregivers stop helping their loved ones or abandon them after 26 weeks? To ask that question is to answer it.
I am pleased to rise today to speak to this important Bloc Québécois motion:
That the House call on the government to increase the special Employment Insurance sickness benefits from 15 weeks to 50 weeks in the upcoming budget in order to support people with serious illnesses, such as cancer.
It is just common sense. We need to solve this problem now.
I will structure my speech around three points: my work in the past as a political aide, which taught me certain things; the many cases that we are still seeing in our ridings these days; and, lastly, the impact that this blatant lack of compassion is having on sick people.
First, I was an assistant in a riding office from 2007 to 2009. People who were suffering used to come in in tears because their benefits were running out and they would no longer be getting the money they were entitled to from the plan they had contributed to. From 2009 to 2011, I worked as an assistant on the Hill, where I saw the work that the Bloc Québécois was doing. The Bloc Québécois was already working hard on this important issue at that time.
I recently had the opportunity to talk to a former MP, who reminded me of all the work that was done on this file, making it possible to really bring this and other similar bills to the fore. He even personally worked on helping pregnant women get the employment insurance benefits they deserve when they have to withdraw from the workforce because their job is too risky. In short, the Bloc has always been there speaking out on this issue, and this problem has been going on for far too long.
Second, now that I am an elected official, I recently met with someone who was receiving compassionate care benefits. Let us remember that compassionate care benefits are equivalent to about 55% or 56% of a person's income and do not take into account expenses, such as adaptations to the home, medical equipment or home care workers. In a region like mine, the cost of travel must also be factored into this already long list of expenses. It is the same thing for special sickness benefits. This adds stress and really undermines the recovery of people who just need to take care of themselves.
Third, it is clear that we can measure the effects of inequality in this case. In 2016, the Coalition des Sans-Chemise called on the Liberal government to take its employment insurance reform even further and adapt the EI system to the realities of today's workers. The coalition, which brings together many associations and unions, had launched a post card campaign with the theme “Employment insurance is for everyone”, a theme that still resonates today.
Although the coalition commended the many improvements the Liberals made to the employment insurance system, it wanted to make the government aware of the need to overhaul the program. The coalition also asked for an increase in the number of weeks offered to workers with a serious illness. The spokesperson for the Conseil national des chômeurs et chômeuses, Pierre Céré, pointed out that caregivers can now get 26 weeks of benefits while those who are sick can get only 15 weeks. This is quite the contradiction and quite sad, honestly.
In December, my colleague from Beloeil—Chambly was joined on Parliament Hill by the labour critic and hon. member for Thérèse-De Blainville and by Émilie Sansfaçon and Marie-Hélène Dubé, as well as their loved ones. They were calling on the government to take action and change the employment insurance system to ensure that those with a lengthy illness can get the help they are entitled to and need throughout their battle.
Ms. Sansfaçon thought she had beaten cancer, but when she was told that the cancer had returned, she had already exhausted all her weeks of employment insurance. She is not getting any support from the federal government and had to go into debt to deal with her illness.
People need our help when they are facing adversity, not when things are going well. We know what the problem is and we also know how to solve it. There is no point in dragging our feet. We have to fix this now.
The Bloc Québécois decided to take up the demands of this group of citizens and have the federal government expand special EI benefits from 15 to 50 weeks to let the sick battle their illness with dignity. The program has not been enhanced since 1971 despite the demands of many stakeholders. Seven bills have been introduced to solve this problem, but nothing has ever been done.
Émilie Sansfaçon and Marie-Hélène Dubé chose to fight for their lives, their families, for those battling illness, but there is no reason why they should also battle the machinery of government. It is time we gave them some respite and dealt with this issue once and for all.
I experienced a lot of heart-wrenching situations like this when I was an assistant to a member of Parliament from 2007 to 2011, and I am still seeing them in 2020. For quite some time now, I have seen that 15 weeks is not enough time to recover from an illness. Employment insurance must change to allow people to seek treatment with dignity. Again, 15 weeks of benefits is not enough.
As you can read on the Conseil national des chômeurs et des chômeuses website, “The sickness benefit plan has not been changed since 1971, which is a long time ago!” Employment insurance must change and provide better protection for the thousands of people without group or private insurance who will go on to deal with health problems. To fix the situation, the Conseil national des chômeurs et des chômeuses is proposing to increase the sickness benefit period to 50 weeks in order to address cases of serious illness. That is what we are proposing as well.
In closing, I cannot ignore my titles as critic for seniors, status of women and gender equality. This motion targets these groups in particular. For more fairness and less poverty for our vulnerable groups, let us take action. No one should have to choose between medicine, food and a place to live. The question is not whether we will one day be a caregiver or receive care, but when.