Anne-Marie Day

[Employment Insurance, January 29th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, never have so few unemployed Canadians been eligible for employment insurance. This is a failure. The Conservative reform penalizes the economy in the regions that rely on seasonal work and limits workers' access to the benefits they themselves paid into.

The Quebec National Assembly, the Association québécoise de l'industrie touristique, the Fédération québécoise des municipalités and thousands of protestors have spoken out against these changes.

Why has the minister not taken action?

[Employment Insurance, January 28th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the negative implications that so many organizations, including the NDP, have been condemning since the start are beginning to materialize and can be quantified. The Conservatives' blind ideology is helping no one. The facts are in. The numbers speak for themselves, and yet the government is stubbornly moving in the same wrong-headed direction, despite the palpable discontent of workers all across the country.

Can the minister commit to quickly reviewing the reform measures or can she commit to addressing the reform's shortcomings in the next budget? The minister needs to remember that her team governs on behalf of all Canadians—Canadians in every province, in every community and in all types of economies.

Canadians expect better from their government, and I strongly urge the minister to listen to the people. Criticism of this reform is coming from all sides, and it is high time the government realized that.

[Employment Insurance, January 28th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, allow me first to wish you and all the members in this House a happy new year.

Before the holidays, I rose on a number of occasions, along with a number of my colleagues, to make it clear to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development that her reform package was a slap in the face for workers who had lost their jobs.

This is already becoming clear in the horror stories being told by families who are reduced to living in poverty or who are forced to take any job at a salary that is lower than what they previously earned.

One of the negative aspects of the reform package involves changes in the calculations used in the working while on claim pilot project. Even though it has been proven many times in this House that the new calculation method imposed by the Conservatives is devastating for the majority of low-income claimants, the government implemented a band-aid solution and allowed some claimants to return to the former method of calculation for a very specific period.

The reality is that only certain claimants will be affected by this change, the ones who worked between August 2011 and August 2012. All other claimants feel they are being held hostage by the new program. Both experts and workers are baffled. In addition to having to choose the program that is best for them at the moment, workers also have to choose the one that is best for the next two years.

It was on this specific issue that I asked the minister, last November, why the government had set up a temporary, two-tier system that that was geared solely to one group of claimants.

I would therefore like to take this opportunity in the House to ask the minister to explain her reasons for the flip-flop, even though she knows very well that the new measure penalizes thousands of claimants. If she knows that the new calculation will seriously affect claimants’ quality of life, since she proposed making corrections only for certain claimants, how is it that she is not keeping the former calculation method for everyone?

In making it possible for certain claimants to return to the old method, is the minister admitting that there are flaws in what she is proposing?

Despite this evidence, she prefers to move forward by penalizing the next group of employment insurance claimants, under the pretext that it is a measure to aid with the transition.

Thousands of claimants have been adversely affected by these reforms, especially the bungled working while on claim pilot project, even though the government promised that services and the social safety net supposedly in place to help those in need would not be affected.

We also know that claimants who choose to temporarily use the former system are currently experiencing record delays in receiving their benefits because the change must be made manually instead of electronically, as is the case for the new system.

Finally, the minister did not provide any real options for claimants put at a disadvantage by the new system, except to return to the old system, which cuts off their benefits while the changeover is taking place. Who is capable of living with no income for a month, the time it takes many workers to switch?

Will the minister admit that this new pilot project must be overhauled in order to support families in need and economic sectors that create temporary, part-time, contract and seasonal jobs?

[Employment Insurance, January 28th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the new employment insurance rules have been in effect for three weeks and it is obvious that Canadians are paying for the Conservatives' irresponsible cuts.

The NDP has been condemning this reform since the beginning. We have been consulting in the field since the fall. These consultations attracted many disgruntled people. Removing access to benefits when people have paid EI premiums is a blatant attack on seasonal jobs and regional development.

Will the minister stop ignoring the demands of workers who pay for this insurance?

[Employment Insurance, December 12th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to correct some of what the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour just said. It is not the workers who are seasonal, but the work. The workers are prepared to work throughout the year, but the work remains seasonal.

On October 2, I asked a second question in the House. I asked the minister about the fact that unemployment experts were not consulted about changes to the program.

This is even more of a problem now that winter has arrived and Christmas is approaching. Social inequality is growing in Canada. The minister cannot ignore this fact. Thousands of Canadians are having trouble paying their bills, heating their homes and feeding their children.

The economy remains fragile and the unemployment rate is not declining as quickly as the Conservatives had hoped. This means that hundreds of thousands of unemployed workers will find it difficult to make the money last until the end of December, and hundreds if not thousands of these people will be using food banks.

Seasonal work has been most affected. There are jobs in Canada, but the reality is that the jobs are not distributed evenly throughout the year or throughout the regions. We have to live with that, and the minister must take that into account in her reform.

Could the minister listen to everyone who has a stake in employment insurance and announce major adjustments to the reform?

[Employment Insurance, December 12th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. Parliamentary Secretary who will be replying to the question and taking part in the debate today. She is always present and I know that just because the file is a complete disaster does not mean that she will not give a professional, noble answer. I would also like to wish her happy holidays.

On behalf of the NDP, I am pleased to be able to once again raise this important issue, since it has not yet been completely resolved. Indeed, on October 2, 2012, I rose during question period to ask the government two questions.

A few weeks ago already, in the face of mounting evidence gathered by the opposition, the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development finally admitted that the former working while on claim pilot project was more beneficial for some unemployed workers than for others. In light of that statement, I asked the minister what she planned to do to resolve the problem now that she was aware of it.

The minister replied, and I quote, “a number of employers across the country are in need of Canadians' skills and abilities. They have jobs to offer people who have these skills and abilities. The problem is that these people are not accepting these jobs or do not know that they exist.”

But what Canadians learned three days later, late in the afternoon of Friday, October 5, while everyone was heading out for the Thanksgiving long weekend, was that amendments would be made to the famous working while on claim pilot project.

The minister announced:

Under the adjustment announced today, those EI recipients who were working while on claim between August 7, 2011 and August 4, 2012 will be given the option of reverting to the rules that existed under the previous pilot project. This change will go into effect January 6, 2013, but it will be applied retrospectively to August 5, 2012--the start of the new pilot program.

Beginning January 6, 2013, eligible claimants must make the request to revert to the old pilot parameters within 30 days of their last EI benefit payment. For claims that have already ended, claimants will have 30 days from the introduction of this option.

The Minister's words were clear: these adjustments affected only employment insurance claimants who were working during their benefit period between August 7, 2011 and August 4, 2012.

First, I want to say that it is very admirable that the minister acknowledged that there are flaws in the proposed EI reform. It is natural to try some initiatives and then realize in hindsight that certain amendments are needed. Policy development should be an ongoing improvement process.

However, my concern is that the government offered an inadequate solution to a major problem that was taking money from the pockets of hundreds of thousands of part-time workers who were benefiting from this pilot project.

The proposed amendments affect too few people in a short period of time. They do not address the problem to solve it once and for all. This seems to be another band-aid measure to placate the public, but the government still has the overall idea of reforming the system to restrict access to EI and reduce benefits.

What does the minister have to say to the pilot project participants who are not eligible to choose between the old and new calculation methods, and what will she have to say to unemployed workers who will work part-time in 2015? When everyone's salary is cut by 50%, will she tell these people that she put off solving the problem and now they are paying the price?

[PETITIONS, December 12th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, 37% of all collisions involving cyclists are fatal. Today I am presenting a petition calling for side guards to be added to trucks in order to protect cyclists.

[Employment Insurance, December 12th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, today we learned that there will be fewer closures of Service Canada employment insurance offices in Conservative ridings.

Previously, regions that voted for the right party were promised services. Today, services are being taken away from those that did not vote for the government. That is straight out of the Duplessis era. Workers across Canada have the right to be treated equally.

Will the Conservatives stop using public services to buy votes?

[Employment Insurance, December 11th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Human Resources is telling people to line up to file their claim for employment insurance benefits while at the same time, she is eliminating front-line services at Service Canada. She is also denying the unemployed the right to appeal decisions in person at the social security tribunal. This is shameful.

What is a person living in a remote area like the Mingan region where there is no ready access to the Internet supposed to do? Is this merely another way for the minister to deny EI benefits to persons who are entitled to them?

[Petitions, December 11th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition signed by about 100 Canadians who are calling for the adoption of legislation that would give Gatineau Park the necessary legal protection to ensure its preservation for future generations.