moved for leave to introduce Bill C-265, An Act to amend the Employment Insurance Act (illness, injury or quarantine).
Mr. Speaker, introducing this bill to amend the Employment Insurance Act with respect to illness, injury or quarantine on behalf of the Bloc Québécois is a poignant moment for me.
This bill will be known as the Émilie Sansfaçon act. Émilie was a young mother who left us much too soon at just 31 years of age, and this bill is the culmination of her political struggle to extend special EI benefits from 15 to 50 weeks, thereby enabling sick workers to fight with dignity.
This bill reiterates the Bloc Québécois motion calling for this change, which the House adopted last February.
All workers who are off work due to illness deserve better, and we are here for them.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)