Mr. Speaker, thousands of laid-off Canadian workers are being denied supplementary unemployment benefits they had negotiated with their employers, and the government has failed to explain why.
Families need these benefits to pay their bills. These are not handouts. These are benefits negotiated by workers as an insurance policy when laid off, and paid for by the employer. Now the government is stopping workers from collecting this taxable insurance. Unions and employers are asking the government to fix the loophole that denies workers this much-needed income.
Why is the government denying workers their supplementary benefits, and when will it fix this problem?