Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to Motion No. 201, which states, in part:
That, in the opinion of the House, the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities should examine the possibility and practicality of extending the maximum number of weeks of Employment Insurance sick benefits for those with long term illnesses....
While my colleagues in the NDP and I will ultimately be supporting this motion, I cannot begin to express my disappointment in a Liberal government that is more focused on looking like it is doing things rather than actually doing them. The Liberal Party knows what is needed. The Liberals have had almost four years of a majority government to do this, but instead, have chosen to make Canadians wait longer.
That being said, the idea of extending El sick benefits is one that is long overdue and one that we as New Democrats support and have advocated for fervently. Since 1971, there has been no change to the amount of El sick benefits. People across our country are struggling. Inflation has risen 520% since then; the middle class has shrunk since then; wages have deflated since that time, and yet we are still stuck at 15 weeks.
Fifteen weeks is the current maximum number of weeks that Canadians with a long-term illness or an injury are allowed to take to help them cope with their incapacity to work. It is not enough.
When folks are struggling, we should be lifting them up. When people are sick, we should be able to comfort them. The toll that a long-term sickness or injury takes is large enough and we should not be making it harder on Canadians.
I am proud that we in the NDP have taken a strong position on extending these benefits. This is no surprise, because remember: It is our party that has a history for fighting for the well-being of people. We are the ones that brought in health care under Tommy Douglas. We have been committed to improving access and care, a fight we continue today.
Issue after issue, the Liberal government is almost where it needs to be in rhetoric but is not there in action. With pharmacare, the Liberals announced a tepid version preferred by industry rather than true universal pharmacare. On dental care, they are nowhere to be found. On child care, it is the same.
A proper health care system that truly caters to people's needs would include these things, plus increased access to mental health care, greater work protections for the sick, and the list goes on.
Clearly, there is a lot of work left to be done to fulfill Tommy Douglas's dream. Extending EI sick benefits would also be part of that vision.
New Democrats have been at the forefront of this fight. I want to acknowledge the work of my colleague from Port Moody—Coquitlam, who throughout his career has fought to improve the quality of EI sick benefits, proposing multiple pieces of legislation that would have made a real difference in people's lives.
He was inspired by Natalie Thomas, a cancer survivor from his riding, whose story highlighted the changes needed to the EI act. Natalie was recovering from breast cancer surgery and was forced to return to work because her EI sick benefits ran out. Canadians like her should not be forced to go back to work so quickly. They should be focused on getting better, and that is what we need.
My colleague from Hamilton Mountain recently told me a story about a constituent of his, Elaine, who donated a kidney to save someone's life. I think we can all agree that what Elaine did was incredible and we should be supporting her. The problem is we did not.
She wrote to my colleague that she would get an EI rate of 55% of her pay. She was the sole breadwinner in the household. Her husband had some severe health issues and was unable to have a full-time job. She also had to take care of her 93-year-old father. This was a severe hardship on her family but the person desperately needed a kidney transplant, and yet, because of the rules, she was forced to go back to work far too early. The recipient was off work for four to six months and only received EI for 15 weeks. She did not have a short-term benefit and she too was forced to go back to work early as she could not afford to stay off work to recover 100%.
A system that forces organ donors and recipients to go back to work while they recover is not a system that is working. We need fundamental change.
We already heard the story of Marie-Hélène Dubé. Marie-Hélène is a cancer survivor who presented a petition calling on the federal government to increase the number of weeks of EI sickness benefits from 15 to 50.
More than 600,000 Canadians signed that petition, the most of any petition in Canada. Clearly, Canadians want change.
Why are so many Canadians responding to Marie-Hélène Dubé's call for 50 weeks? Currently, almost 40% of Canadians using El sick benefits are maxing them out. For many Canadians, they have a choice at that point, return to work still injured, or receive an income or leave their jobs to focus on getting better. Neither are acceptable options. The reality is that Canadians tend to need 50 weeks to recover from illness and injury. We are not even covering a third of the needed time, and Canadians deserve better.
Following the 2015 election, many Canadians had hope for sunnier days ahead from the government and the early results were encouraging for some. In 2016, the Minister of Social Development publicly committed to expanding El sick benefits. It has been two years and there has been nothing.
Instead of working to improve people's lives, the Liberals are proposing another study, another study that in all likelihood will not have time to finish its work before the next election. I know the government likes to talk a good progressive game while accomplishing very little, but even for them this is a little rich. Canadians like Natalie and Marie-Hélène deserve more than another study. They deserve more than 15 weeks.
Let us not forget everyone who does not even qualify for these benefits, who the government consistently ignores. I am thinking of young people, the precariously unemployed and underemployed, people in my riding and all across the country who need a bit of help, but the government is not there to give it to them.
When rich American billionaires want pipelines built, the government goes the extra mile. When SNC-Lavalin breaks the law, the government looks like it is there for it. However, when regular Canadians are being forced to return to work either sick or injured or quit their jobs because they are too sick to perform, the government does not even budge an inch. It will propose a study, but it certainly will not do anything to actually improve someone's life.
The hypocrisy and cynicism of this type of politics that privileges style over substance is typical of the government. We see it in the government's attitude toward reconciliation and indigenous peoples. We see it in its attitude toward the environment. We see it in its attitude toward the sick and injured.
The worst part is that the government acknowledges that it will not have time to make any changes to EI. Not even six months ago, the Minister of Social Development admitted that there was not time to make changes to the El sickness system, given the federal election. The government is open about the fact that it cannot make the changes it needs to make and that this, all of this, is just window dressing.
The motion will pass and the Liberals will pretend it is a win, but it is not. The motion represents four years of the Liberals refusing to fix the problem. It represents almost half a decade of successive Liberal and Conservative governments ignoring the issue.
My colleagues and I will vote in support of the motion, but we do it understanding that this is not the change that Canadians deserve. We do it because we support the principle of extending El sick benefits. It is a pity that the government's actions show that it does not.
