Mr. Speaker, clearly, the goal of the system is to hear from Canadians, allow time to look at the changes that are necessary, and fulfill our election platform commitments.
That is exactly what we intend to do.
House of Commons photoLost her last election, in 2019, with 28% of the vote.
Employment Insurance March 7th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, clearly, the goal of the system is to hear from Canadians, allow time to look at the changes that are necessary, and fulfill our election platform commitments.
That is exactly what we intend to do.
Employment Insurance March 7th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the member across the way, and all Canadians, that we are working very hard to reform an EI system that was modified with a meanspirited purpose, a second purpose to help, clearly, businesses rather than workers.
It is time we renewed EI, and we are going to be bringing in a modernized system very shortly.
Employment Insurance February 26th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I want to promise the House of Commons and the citizens of Canada that we made a commitment to improve employment insurance, to actually make it a modern system that meets the needs of business and workers, which was a priority that the previous government ignored in its mandate.
Employment Insurance February 26th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, that gives me the opportunity to remind the House that this is government that ran on a platform to change the EI system, which was modified in a set of mean-spirited changes by the previous government, which focused the system to help and subsidize businesses rather than dealing with the needs of Canadian workers.
We are busy working on a system to modernize the program.
Employment Insurance February 26th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I will repeat that we are in the process of a massive review of the employment insurance system to modernize it so that it meets the needs of seasonal workers and vulnerable workers from coast to coast to coast.
We are in the process, so I would ask all of you to participate in the EI review that is ongoing.
Employment Insurance February 26th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, we are in a process of Canadian consultation.
It is important that we hear from people from coast to coast to coast to reverse the mean-spirited changes implemented by the previous government that focused on the EI system helping employers, not workers, in Canada. We will change that.
Business of Supply February 25th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I am absolutely thrilled with the valuable debate that we have had in the House.
I would like to ask my colleague if he has given some thought about what people in his riding are looking at for those individuals who are not in the system but are now called “vulnerable workers”. There is a growing number of people who are choosing to work part time, and seasonal workers, who have fallen outside of the parameters of the existing EI program. Where does the member see Canada moving toward supports for people who are not the typical nine to five full-time worker? That is a growing trend, and it looks like it is going to accelerate.
In general, I want to thank the House for some very insightful debate, and I appreciate the well thought-out comments.
Employment Insurance February 25th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government in the past looked at fiscal responsibility. What it did with its goal of saving money and redirecting expenditures to its own priorities was to create a system that did not meet the needs of all Canadians. In fact, we know that over 60% of working Canadians who pay into the insurance program are not covered. Obviously, that is a deficiency.
Not only was it ineffective, it was inefficient and mean-spirited. I hear the member's claim that the motion by the NDP would in fact throw away fiscal responsibility completely at a time when that party just ran on the idea that it would balance the budget. It is an interesting flip-flop.
Does the member support the previous Conservative system of EI, which left 60% of Canadians out in the cold without any coverage?
Employment Insurance February 25th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, as we committed in the platform and as we committed to Canadians, the goal of the EI system, with the payments that workers and businesses make, is to support a platform that helps workers when they unfortunately lose their jobs.
That is the purpose of the system. It is an insurance system, and that is how we intend to manage it.
Employment Insurance February 25th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, the use of EI funds for other purposes, which was illustrated by the Conservatives in 2010, I believe, to actually backdate part of the huge debt incurred through those measures, was a very tough time and in fact emergency measures were needed, but dipping into the EI fund to pay for them was questionable at best.
In today's world we are saying that EI is actually for the workers who receive it, and that indeed, any surplus will be seen, for example, in the reduction to EI costs that people pay.
Our intention, as the platform indicated, is that EI contributions will be used for the EI system.