Madam Speaker, the stress and inconveniences also affect the employer and the work teams. When an employee does not perform as expected, that inevitably has a significant impact on the business that can even compromise the very future of the firm or at least its productivity. Sometimes the employer will end up terminating the employee who has not fully recovered. That is never a pleasant situation.
By sticking with 15 weeks of special employment insurance sickness benefits, the government is forcing a physician, employer or citizen to not play by the established rules. They will do so out of compassion and common sense.
I will also take this opportunity to add that we should consider a similar change in family caregiver benefits. These should also increase to 50 weeks when required by the situation.
The entire employment insurance program must be overhauled to reduce the regulatory and administrative burden. I would remind members that the EI fund belongs to the workers and not to the Government of Canada. When we are sick, we should spend our time and effort on taking care of ourselves, not fighting to get something that belongs to us.
My conclusion is very simple. We must amend the Employment Insurance Act to increase the maximum sickness benefit from 15 weeks to 50 weeks. Why not take this opportunity to also reduce the regulatory and administrative burdens? The goal is to adapt the employment insurance program to the current reality of workers in Canada and Quebec.