COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters  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 numbe

COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters  Mr. Chair, since the beginning of the pandemic our efforts have been on ensuring Canadians get the support they need, particularly Canadian workers who have not been able to work because we asked them to stay home. I can assure the member that the details will be coming soon. A

COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters  Mr. Speaker, I can assure every member of the House and every Canadian that we have a very robust plan to include everyone and not leave anybody behind. The Prime Minister laid out a comprehensive framework of what is to come next for transitioning people to EI. We are creating

COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters  Mr. Speaker, I can assure everyone now, as we have been assuring Canadians for months, that nobody will be left behind. Absolutely, we have a plan in place that will make sure workers are supported. We want to make sure we are encouraging people to work when it is available to

Government Programs  Mr. Speaker, when the CERB came into effect, we were asking Canadians to stay home. We are now encouraging Canadians to go back to work. That is why when we added weeks onto the CERB, we created new language in the attestation where Canadians are committing to seek out work oppor

Government Programs  Mr. Speaker, I take issue with characterizing the CERB as a “dumb system” when it has helped over eight million Canadians make sure they have money to pay their rent and buy food. We have worked extremely hard to evolve the CERB with the evolving state of this pandemic. We are

Further COVID-19 Measures Act  Mr. Speaker, we have a unique opportunity over the next 60 days, or I guess 60 days from when this bill receives royal assent, to really dig in as members of Parliament and help as many of our constituents as possible, and the organizations that help them, access the disability t

Further COVID-19 Measures Act  Mr. Speaker, I can absolutely assure you that we have decided to up benefits from 15 to 26 weeks for people receiving employment insurance because of illness. That is really important. As we saw with the CERB, we have to support people who are sick so they can make the right deci

Further COVID-19 Measures Act  Mr. Speaker, we have been supporting persons with disabilities since the beginning of this pandemic. Families receiving the Canada child benefit get it for their children with disabilities. Students receiving the Canada emergency student benefit get an extra $750 a month if they

Further COVID-19 Measures Act  Mr. Speaker, I think the record will show that when given the chance to separate just the disability component—because quite frankly I thought we were all in agreement about it last time—certain parties did not choose to go forward then. We could have been a month ahead of where

Further COVID-19 Measures Act  Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to join my colleagues today to participate in this important debate on Bill C-20, which provides an administrative amendment so we can better support Canadians with disabilities during this pandemic. It feels like a very long time ago now, but in fa

COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters  Mr. Speaker, I can assure the member that I thought those challenges were addressed. I will follow up right after this committee.

COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters  Madam Chair, I can assure everyone in this House that the eight-week extension of CERB is absolutely reorienting toward incentivizing work, requiring people to look for and find work if they can. However, the reality is that people still need support and we are going to be there

COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters  Madam Chair, I can assure everyone in this House that we are going after people who prey on the vulnerable, not the vulnerable, and I do not make any apologies for that. I can also assure everyone that I have worked extremely hard to get provinces to understand the importance o

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, as I have said previously, in the upcoming days we are going to open up the I Want to Volunteer portal, which will give students the opportunity to be paired with summer service opportunities. We wanted to make sure that we did not burden non-profits. Obviously, in t