Jane Stewart

[Employment Insurance, March 18th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, first let us be clear that it is this government that improved the administration of undeclared earnings provisions in the Employment Insurance Act, despite what that party wanted us not to do.

The hon. member makes reference to retroactivity. Perhaps she would want to speak to her colleague to the left, her own leader, who in 1999 said in the House “I don’t believe in retroactive legislation...We can't stop what happened in the past”.

[Employment Insurance, March 18th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, again I can hardly believe the hon. member is asking this question when the critic of her own party stood firmly against the idea of changing the provisions for undeclared earnings completely.

[Employment Insurance, March 14th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot accept the premise of the hon. member's words today. What I can say is that in every system and in every program we have investigative and fraud discovery programs, and that is very important for the integrity of all our systems.

I will look at this case and ensure that the appropriate action has been taken.

[Employment Insurance, March 14th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I will be glad to take a look at the individual case, but on balance, penalties are paid only when fraud has been discovered. In other cases, the recoveries are only to the amounts that were equal to the undeclared earnings.

[Employment Insurance, March 14th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the only people who were charged administrative penalties were found to have committed fraud.

[Employment Insurance, March 14th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, let me say again that individuals who through no fault of their own made mistakes in declaring their earnings are not charged an administrative penalty.

We have a system in place where individuals who were working and receiving benefits and did not declare their earnings had those moneys recovered for the public purse.

The system is clear. There are appeal systems in place and those systems are applied.

[Employment Insurance, March 14th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I would remind the hon. member that there is a full appeal process in the employment insurance system.

I would also reiterate my commitment to look at any new information in individual files and have the department ensure that the law was applied appropriately.

I find it very strange that the member's party is asking me not to recover public funds that were paid to individuals who were not eligible. Since when did that party lose its concern for accountability for public funds?

[Employment Insurance, March 14th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is completely out of touch. In fact, the report that was done by officials in the department was a very useful document which encouraged the department to make changes and improvements to the administration of the provisions of undeclared earnings.

I can do nothing more than remind the House that the member's party was vociferous against our making these changes just a year ago.

[Employment Insurance, March 14th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely absurd that the Alliance Party is pretending to be sympathetic to employment insurance recipients. It is the party that on page 7 of its own platform said it would do nothing but cut employment insurance benefits. It is the party whose member for Calgary--Nose Hill said that EI fraud is rampant and “a significant drain on the system”. It is the party whose member for North Vancouver said of EI fraud “If you have cheated and been fined, you should be off for life”. Now where is the compassion in that?

[Employment Insurance, March 14th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is wrong and she is misguided.

Let me be clear. Individuals who through no fault of their own made mistakes in their declared earnings will not be penalized. There is no administrative penalty. Further, if individuals have more information about their individual circumstances that they would like the department to review for application of the law, we would be glad to do that.