Employment Insurance  Mr. Speaker, we are taking every effort and I am proud to say that 2.85 million Canadians right now—

Employment Insurance  Mr. Speaker, I can assure the member that we are working very hard to make sure that every worker who is entitled to EI gets it and people who are not get the new recovery benefits. I will look into the specifics of this particular case. I, quite frankly, do not know about the security issue.

Ways and Means  Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 83(1) I wish to table, on behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, a notice of ways and means motion to amend the Income Tax Act. Pursuant to Standing Order 83(2) I ask that an order of the day be designated for consideration of the motion.

Employment Insurance  Mr. Speaker, we worked really hard to make sure that severance earnings did not impact workers' entitlement to EI under the new, more generous EI system, which we temporarily have in place. I can promise this House to look into the exact issue the member is raising. Between me and my colleagues, we will make sure we address it.

Employment Insurance  Mr. Speaker, as I said, we actually lifted the requirement that severance be considered as part of forward-looking income as we changed the EI system to welcome more Canadian workers into the system. I can happily report that 1.8 million Canadians are in the new, more relaxed and generous EI system, with another 2.5 million Canadians on the new recovery benefit.

Persons with Disabilities  Mr. Speaker, since the beginning we have taken a disability-inclusive approach to this pandemic. I am pleased to announce that starting this Friday, three days from now, 1.7 million Canadians will begin to receive the $600 one-time payment in recognition of the extraordinary expenses being faced by Canadians with disabilities.

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I thank Sarah for fighting the fight. I hear many of her views about how, historically, we have done wrong by this really marginalized group of citizens. We are taking every effort to do right by our citizens with disabilities. It started with the Accessible Canada Act, which put a disability lens on our pandemic response, resulting in a COVID disability advisory group, resulting in recommendations from that group as to how we could ensure that sufficient safeguards were put in place, resulting in a commitment in the Speech from the Throne to a direct payment to citizens with disabilities, the Canada disability benefit modelled after the GIS, so they can have the the choice to not live in poverty, access to the services and supports they need to live with dignity.

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his collaboration and partnership in advancing issues related to disability. This is a very complicated, complex and deeply personal issue. I have been committed since the beginning to living by our commitment to a “nothing about us without us” perspective by ensuring members of the disability community have voices at every table around decisions like this.

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, we are talking not only about changing the Criminal Code, but being very careful not to send a message to a very important group of our citizens that their lives are not as valuable as those of the rest of us. I want to ensure that as we have this conversation nothing we do sends that message.

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, it is really an honour to participate in this important debate on Bill C-7, alongside my colleagues, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and the Minister of Health. By way of background, in 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the sections of the Criminal Code that made assisted suicide illegal.

Points of Order  Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order today to address a question raised yesterday in Question Period around a comment I made last week with respect to time overseeing the Phoenix file. As someone who has dedicated her life to dispelling myths and championing the rights of individuals with all forms of disabilities, including mental illness, I regret and apologize for my poor choice of words.

COVID-19 Response Measures Act  Mr. Speaker, there was a lot in that question, so let me unpack it a bit. First, I just made clear in my speech that in fact the $500 a week would be taxed and deducted at source. We made that decision to help Canadians as they enter the next tax payment season. Quite frankly, the reason we have designed this new benefit system is to address a lot of the concerns the member has brought forward and we have talked about over and over again.

COVID-19 Response Measures Act  Mr. Speaker, I have enjoyed working with my colleague on a number of these important measures to make them even better for Canadians. This legislation is about temporary measures to help Canadians get through a pandemic crisis. It is not about discarding an important conversation of what should be permanent in the future.

COVID-19 Response Measures Act  Mr. Speaker, we have done our very best to model all the disincentives to work that are in the EI system. In this legislation, workers have to be available to work. They have to be actively seeking work. They have to take job offers when it is reasonable to do so. Workers, unlike with the CERB, they had to be resident; they have to be resident and present in Canada.

COVID-19 Response Measures Act  Mr. Speaker, I am tired but I want to get my math right. The $38,000 was established by using the $24,000 average annual income of a self-employed individual plus adding the maximum amount a person can get on CERB, which is $14,000, to get to a total of $38,000.