Employment Insurance  Mr. Speaker, we are committed to completely overhauling Canada's employment insurance system. Some temporary benefits programs implemented during the pandemic will indeed come to an end, but regular benefits will continue to be available to workers, as they were before the pandem

Employment Insurance  Mr. Speaker, this morning we spoke about how important the temporary measures were during the pandemic. We also talked about the fact that some temporary benefit programs are naturally coming to a close, but that workers will continue to have access to regular benefits. We look

Employment Insurance  Mr. Speaker, our government understands that EI benefits need to be fairer, more responsive and better tailored to the needs of Canada's ever-evolving workforce. That is why we have committed to fully modernizing the employment insurance system in partnership with stakeholders,

Employment Insurance  Mr. Speaker, today I met with Pierre Céré from the Conseil national des chômeurs et chômeuses, as well as representatives from the Canadian Labour Congress, the Guilde des musiciens et musiciennes du Québec and the Syndicat québécois de la construction. We talked about a fairer,

Employment Insurance  Mr. Speaker, the changes to the EI system put in place during the pandemic were in response to extraordinary economic circumstances, shutdowns, lockdowns, job losses and record high unemployment rates. We are not there anymore thanks in great part to the work of our team on this

Employment Insurance  Mr. Speaker, I do not have time in 35 seconds to lay out all the impressive changes we have made to the EI system over the past seven years, but let me highlight an upcoming one. By the end of this December, workers will have access to 26 weeks of sickness benefits instead of 15

Persons with Disabilities  Mr. Speaker, yesterday we took a major step forward in creating the groundbreaking Canada disability benefit, a federal income supplement for working-aged persons with disabilities. With the Canada disability benefit, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lift hundreds

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we are a bit hesitant to take advice from that side on EI considering that when the current Leader of the Opposition was in charge of EI in 2015, workers paid 20% more into EI than they do today in a system that was not as generous as it is

Employment Insurance  Mr. Speaker, as our COVID pandemic economic measures wind down, I can assure everyone in this House that we continue to support workers and we continue to be there for workers. We are working very hard to modernize the EI system. EI for sickness will be in place up to 26 weeks by

Employment Insurance  Mr. Speaker, during the pandemic, we put in place temporary EI measures to help address the extraordinary economic circumstances at the time: shutdowns, lockdowns, job losses. We continue to move forward with our economic policies that focus on addressing labour shortages and tha

Employment Insurance  Mr. Speaker, in recognition of the fact that seasonal workers are still struggling, we are extending the seasonal worker pilot to make sure that we address the black hole. We are committed to modernizing the EI system. We are working very hard, through the consultations, to make

Employment Insurance  Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to remind everybody in the House of our commitment to extend EI sickness benefits from 15 to 26 weeks. That will be in place by the end of the year. By the end of this year, workers will have access to 26 weeks of EI sickness ben

Canada Disability Benefit Act  Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her impassioned speech and for her advocacy on this really important issue. She has been a champion in poverty reduction for the community of persons with disabilities for so long. I have heard very clearly from the House about the need

Canada Disability Benefit Act  Madam Speaker, as I said, financial security is one part of a four-part approach to disability inclusion in Canada. The second part is employment. There are significant barriers for this untapped labour pool, and in a time of labour shortages, this is a group that could be contri

Canada Disability Benefit Act  Madam Speaker, I was concerned, in moving forward with this legislation, that we were not to impose requirements or criteria on a population that has always been imposed upon. I was concerned that we would make it more difficult for provinces and territories to collaborate and ha