Human Resources committee  This is 2020-21 data.

Human Resources committee  I would say that fiscal year was a bit of a different type of year, given the pandemic, so the data is, perhaps, not reflective of a normal year. In previous years, that percentage was slightly higher. For example, I believe it was 36% in 2019-20. Now, in 2020-21, it's 33%.

Human Resources committee  To inform the extension to 26 weeks, certainly we looked at things like the results from the evaluation of EI sickness benefits. We looked at consultations and feedback received from stakeholders and at recommendations made by them. We've looked at the annual data on the usage of

Human Resources committee  Could you clarify what you mean by the “impact”?

Human Resources committee  Yes. The Parliamentary Budget Officer did an estimate and estimated that an extension to 52 weeks would cost approximately $1.9 billion per year ongoing. This compares roughly to $1 billion for an extension to 26 weeks.

Human Resources committee  Sure. There are two ways the program provides some flexibility for those with episodic or intermittent illnesses. The first one is that claimants have the ability to work while on claim, while they're claiming EI sickness benefits. For any [Technical difficulty—Editor]. For examp

Human Resources committee  I'm not sure I understand the reference to “13 years later”. Could you, perhaps, elaborate on that?

Human Resources committee  Certainly, I cannot speak to why it was not extended earlier. All I can say is that, right now, the proposal is to extend it to 26 weeks. I can't say why it wasn't extended earlier than that.

Human Resources committee  Certainly, there are a number of reasons why a government may or may not choose to extend benefits. It is beyond my decision whether to extend beyond 15 weeks. I could not provide you with an answer as to why the government of the day chose to wait until now to extend sickness be

Human Resources committee  That's correct. The average number of weeks of EI sickness benefits used—for somebody who used only EI sickness benefits—was nine weeks, and 33% of claimants used all 15 weeks available to them.

Human Resources committee  I can just perhaps add quickly that in general for EI sickness benefits, 56% of claimants are women, versus 44% who are men. Those are the stats that I have with me right now, but certainly we can provide additional statistics to properly respond to your question.

Human Resources committee  As I mentioned, approximately 33% of claimants currently exhaust their 15 weeks of benefits. Among those, what the evaluation in 2019 demonstrated was that close to half—about 45%—never returned to work afterwards. For those who did return to work, the vast majority returned to w

Human Resources committee  My response was really to say that a lot of these decisions were political decisions, so at the end of the day, you would have to direct your question to the minister responsible for the EI program, which is Minister Qualtrough.

Human Resources committee  Minister Qualtrough is responsible for the policy of the EI program, so any questions regarding policy questions would have to be directed to her.

Human Resources committee  Normally, when a change is made to the EI program, it takes at least a year to make the necessary changes to the system. It's not just changing the different systems that deliver the program; it's also training Service Canada agents and changing the procedures and guides that age