Carla Qualtrough

[Proceedings on the bill entitled An Act relating to certain measures in response to COVID-19, September 29th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, we have been working together for a long time to help Canadians during this pandemic. It truly is an emergency. We all agree on that.

My government colleagues and I are listening to the opposition parties. We are aware of their concerns about the CERB and we understand what they wanted in this bill. When we created the new benefits, we tried to include what all the opposition parties wanted to see in there.

We do not want to discourage people from working. We want to be sure that there are integrity measures in place. We want to be sure that people are looking for work and that they accept employment when it is offered to them.

The three benefits really reflect that.

[Proceedings on the bill entitled An Act relating to certain measures in response to COVID-19, September 29th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, we told Canadians over a month ago of our plan to transition from the CERB to EI.

We talked about the changes made to the system that would allow more people to transition to EI. We said we were going to create three new benefits, namely, the Canada recovery benefit, the Canada recovery sickness benefit and the Canada recovery caregiving benefit. We also explained the details of those three benefits.

We worked very closely with public servants to make sure that the transition to EI would happen without any interruption to Canadians' benefits. It was very important to us that we continue our work behind the scenes, in co-operation with officials from the Department of National Revenue and Employment and Social Development Canada, who are working very hard for Canadians.

Quite frankly, there should be no big surprises here. We shared all the details of our plan over a month ago. I hope everyone will be happy with this. It is very important that these benefits get paid out so that workers—

[Employment Insurance, September 28th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure every member in this House that we are taking robust steps to make sure that everybody is encouraged to work when it is safe for them to do so, that when they are available to work they take job offers and that they are put in a position to work in healthy and safe work environments.

Quite frankly, Canadians want to work, and we are doing everything we can to put in place circumstances so they can do so safely.

[COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters, August 12th, 2020]

Mr. Chair, my focus has been on transitioning people to the existing EI system. It is robust. It is ready to ingest the millions of Canadians it needs to. We are going to ensure that no one is left behind. We have started our process by creating a national, uniform unemployment rate so everybody has the same criteria for eligibility no matter where one lives in the country. That is huge, as EI regions do not necessarily match the phasing in of economic recovery throughout our country. We are confident that we will be there for Canadians.

[COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters, August 12th, 2020]

Mr. Chair, as I have explained for the member directly on a number of occasions, and I am happy to explain again, the EI account is tabulated based on premiums at the end of each fiscal year. That number is published in mid-fall, I believe. Again, I am happy to give him the same details I have given him on a number of occasions.

[COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters, August 12th, 2020]

Mr. Chair, one of the reasons we put in place the CERB was that the EI system could not ingest the millions of people we knew would need help. We have been working since March 15 to address that and I am confident that, come the beginning of September, people will transition into EI seamlessly and without benefit disruption.

[COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters, August 12th, 2020]

Mr. Chair, in some ways the CERB was a very blunt instrument that we had to implement during a time of crisis, and it has benefited over eight million Canadians. I make no apologies for doing that.

Transitioning people back to EI allows us to use our more sophisticated system, which will have in place elements of work sharing, working while on claim, access to training. All the things that people need in order to return to work and transition back to work will be in place for them. We are weeks away from making that transition. I thank the officials at ESDC—

[COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters, August 12th, 2020]

Mr. Chair, I can assure you that I am working on that. I understand that Service Canada and my officials are working hand in hand to ensure that problem is addressed. Honestly, I want to ensure that everything we do is done well and done properly. I will not do a situation halfway. This is going to be solved. Retroactive payments will be made. This will be solved.

[COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters, August 12th, 2020]

Mr. Chair, we understand how concerned a number of individuals are with the number of hours they have with respect to EI eligibility. It is definitely one of the issues that has been top of mind for me as we have rebuilt the system to ensure it is ready to ingest the millions of people it will need to. We will definitely address this issue in our broader conversation around this next week.

[COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters, August 12th, 2020]

Mr. Chair, as I have said, and as the Prime Minister announced the week before last, we have a robust plan. We will be giving Canadians the details of that next week. We have already explained to Canadians that they can rest assured that the EI system is ready to ingest the number of people it will have to.

On Monday, we announced a uniform unemployment rate across the country, which sets a minimal eligibility threshold for EI recipients. That should give comfort to many Canadians who are worried about their levels and hours they have to get into EI. We are putting a caregiver aspect to it, a sickness benefit aspect to it, as per our promise.

Canadians can be assured with what we have said, and we will give further details very soon.