Brigitte Sansoucy

[Employment Insurance, April 18th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, the Social Security Tribunal of Canada is a real disaster. We waited months for the KPMG report, and it is damning. Every case referred to the tribunal, which the Conservatives created in 2013 for the stated purpose of saving $25 million per year, has ended up costing more than under the old board of referees system, not to mention taking longer. It costs close to $2,400 now, compared to $720 before.

The Conservatives claimed their system would be more efficient, but the tribunal has a backlog of cases. Simply put, the tribunal takes five times longer to handle cases than the old system did. I would like to congratulate the FTQ, the CSN, and the Mouvement autonome et solidaire des sans-emploi, MASSE, for their amazing work on this file. Wait times for employment insurance appeals have gotten longer and longer ever since the tribunal was set up. It was 109 days by the end of the first year, and it is now 219 days. Imagine waiting nearly a year for an appeal.

The status quo is no longer tenable. It is time for the government to keep its word and reform the Social Security Tribunal, as it promised to do.

Speaking of promises, the office of the minister responsible for social development has admitted that the tribunal is inefficient, saying that the backlog has been growing since 2013, and Canadians are waiting. His staff also said that the tribunal's decisions have an impact on people's lives and that it is important to restructure the tribunal to make it more efficient and more productive, so that people get decisions within a reasonable time frame.

As for the Prime Minister, he promised to “create new performance standards for services offered by the federal government” by reforming the appeals process at the SST so that Canadians receive “timely access to needed services”.

Nearly two and a half years later, however, we are still waiting for the promised changes. I would therefore like to know why the government is not doing more on this issue.

In 2013, the Conservative government made the mistake of ignoring warnings from my colleagues, unemployed workers' groups, and unions and carried out this reform without doing any consultations.

As Gaétan Cousineau, the coordinator of Mouvement Action-Chômage de la Gaspésie, has said, many people get discouraged and decide not to appeal due to the backlogs, whereas under the old system, appeals used to be made in person, in our regions, before boards of referees. Representatives of Mouvement Action Chômage de Saint-Hyacinthe have made similar comments.

I will therefore ask my question in clear terms. When will the Liberals finally decide to take action and get rid of the Social Security Tribunal once and for all? I am asking this question on behalf of all the unemployed workers who, as I said, may have to wait almost a year for their appeals to be heard.

[Employment Insurance, April 17th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I put myself in the shoes of those who are in this situation and who hear the government talk about averages and reviewing the situation. These people are hearing that they are among the minority in claiming the 15 weeks of benefits. Then, the government changes topics and goes on to speak more generally. The difficult circumstances these people are in do not get any better.

This is disheartening, because the Prime Minister said that he would do something. He said this on the Téléjournal, in Montreal, as did the minister. The government needs to stop sticking its head in the sand and fulfill its promises. I will ask my question one last time for all those who are facing financial difficulties instead of fighting their illnesses.

On behalf of all of my constituents, when will this government fulfill its commitment to review the EI sickness benefits system?

[Employment Insurance, April 17th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, on November 27, I rose in the House to ask a question about employment insurance sickness benefits.

Currently, workers who fall ill are entitled to 15 weeks of employment insurance benefits. As I pointed out during my intervention on November 27, 15 weeks is not enough, especially for someone with serious health problems.

More than one-third of claimants need far more than the 15 weeks granted by this program. In late 2016, the Prime Minister himself and the minister said that they would extend the benefits period. However, a year and a half later, nothing has changed. That is unacceptable. It is high time that the government kept its promise to make this change, which so many of our constituents have been calling for.

I want to acknowledge Marie-Hélène Dubé, from Rivière-du-Loup. In 2009, while battling cancer, she started a petition calling for the government at the time to extend EI sickness benefits. Nearly 600,000 signatures were collected. Almost a decade later, Marie-Hélène Dubé's fight to allow sick workers to recover with dignity continues.

I want to thank everyone in Saint-Hyacinthe and Acton Vale who wrote to me recently about extending the EI sickness benefit period.

The 15-week EI sickness benefit provision goes back to 1971 and is completely out of touch with the realities of today's society. We need to take action now. Last year, 345,000 Canadian workers needed these emergency benefits.

The Liberal government promised to extend EI sickness benefits a year and a half ago, but workers who are forced to take time off for health reasons are still not entitled to more than 15 weeks of benefits. This situation makes life very difficult for thousands of patients who cannot go back to work when their benefits run out.

Recently, Christine Roussel, a single mother in Quebec City who was diagnosed with breast cancer, had to take sick leave in the winter of 2017 to undergo chemotherapy. Even though she was earning less on EI, those benefits helped her make ends meet. Things started going downhill on June 24, 2017, which is when her sickness benefits suddenly ended. Without disability insurance, the mother of two had to turn to social assistance. Unable to survive on welfare, the Quebec City resident had to start working again on December 22 even though she was not healthy enough to do so. I cannot believe the government forces sick people back to work instead of taking care of them. We have to do something.

During the last campaign, the NDP promised to extend those benefits and make them more accessible so that sick workers would not end up like Ms. Dubé and Ms. Roussel.

The Prime Minister and the minister promised to take action, so my question again is this: what are they waiting for?

[Infrastructure, March 29th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary budget officer just released a new report on phase 1 of the Liberals' infrastructure plan. The report confirms what we already knew, and we are not really surprised. The Liberals are incapable of keeping their promises. Half of the millions of dollars earmarked have not yet been allocated to projects. I did say half. Municipalities have been waiting too long for that money. They believed the Liberal promises.

On their behalf, I am once again asking the government where its plan is.

[Families, Children and Social Development, March 27th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the last time I raised this issue during an adjournment debate, my colleague, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development said, “as I said, I have no hesitation in welcoming a push by the party opposite.”

With that in mind, let me list a few more things the government could do to reduce poverty. First, it could speed up the introduction of a universal child care system. Too many parents are still paying $80 a day for child care. Second, let us recognize the right to housing by adding it to the Canadian Bill of Rights. Third, let us make the guaranteed income supplement automatic for all seniors in Canada. Some are still not getting it. Last, let us establish a guaranteed minimum income and implement a national strategy to end homelessness.

[Families, Children and Social Development, March 27th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, on October 25, I rose in the House to ask a question about the fact that many of our constituents continue to live in poverty.

In 2018, in the world's 10th largest economic power, a large part of the population still lives in poverty and the government is not taking any real steps to address the problem. That is completely unacceptable. The time for promises has passed. It is now time to take action.

This government promised to help lift hundreds of thousands of seniors out of poverty. The Liberals promised that eligible seniors would be automatically signed up for the guaranteed income supplement, but they have failed almost half a million low-income seniors who are still not receiving that benefit because the reform applies only to new applicants. Seniors who are eligible for this benefit are therefore not automatically enrolled, and yet too many low-income seniors are still not aware that they are eligible for the GIS.

That is why the NDP has been asking for a long time that all eligible individuals receive the GIS automatically. The NDP is asking the government to make GIS enrolment automatic for all seniors and to further increase that benefit so that our seniors are not living in poverty.

These people have incomes of less than $10,000. Will the government finally ensure that they have a decent income and grant them the benefits to which they are entitled? With our country's aging population, it is high time that the government made sure that all seniors have a decent income. We need to ensure that no one is slipping through the cracks in a rich country like ours.

The situation is definitely critical. We know that inequality is growing exponentially around the world and becoming more glaring by the day. I believe it is high time that the government took responsibility and put in place ambitious mechanisms to fight this persistent poverty that threatens our country's future. While inequality grows every year in Canada, it seems that no government, to date, has been able to implement a policy to resolve the problem of poverty in this country.

Over the past year, the fortunes of Canadian billionaires have grown by almost $28 billion. Tax fairness could have helped 4.9 million Canadians who are living below the poverty line. To reduce this poverty that brings shame to Canada, I believe we must be proactive, as recently suggested by the Canadian Medical Association, which believes that investing in social measures would be a more powerful antidote than repeated increases in health budgets.

That is why I am urging the government to listen to the recommendations of organizations, especially Campaign 2000, that are asking it to establish truly progressive policies that can finally eliminate the gap between rich and poor.

My question is therefore simple: when will the government put in place a real concerted strategy to fight poverty? Seniors, families, children, the unemployed, indigenous children, persons with disabilities, refugees, and a great number of Canadians are waiting for the government to take action and put an end to the scourge of poverty.

[Infrastructure, March 27th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, we have been asking important questions about the infrastructure bank for months. To date, the government has been unable to answer them. What is more, appointments to the board are only raising more questions. The government had announced a transparent selection process based on merit, but half of the board members have close ties to the Liberal Party.

How can this government explain the cronyism that has beset the appointment process at the infrastructure bank?

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, March 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, this government is again neglecting farmers and food processors, especially as it updates the Canadian organic standards.

By requiring the industry to bear the cost of consultations, this government is putting at risk the organic sector, which is made up by very young businesses for the most part.

When will this government take responsibility and fund each step of the current and future reviews of organic farming, as is the case in the United States and Europe?

[Business of Supply, March 22nd, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his speech. We are familiar with his journalistic standards. He really gave us a factual account of the progression of the scandal. I cannot find another word to describe it. It is a scandal.

Now I would like to benefit from his analysis, whether political or journalistic. Why are the Liberals refusing to answer? Why did they adjourn the proceedings at committee when it came time to talk about it? Now we have to discuss this motion. Why are we hearing all sorts of diversions today from our Liberal colleagues participating in the debate?

Why?

[Infrastructure, March 19th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, in his most recent report, the parliamentary budget officer called on the Liberals to deliver a detailed plan for how they intend to dole out billions in infrastructure dollars to prevent further delays. He said that some funding would likely not be allocated or spent on time. He went so far as to say that the Liberals do not have a plan for spending the billions of dollars earmarked for infrastructure over the next 12 years. Municipalities have been waiting for too long and cannot wait any longer.

On their behalf, I am asking the government, where is the plan to prevent delays?