Posted: Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Introduction
On behalf of the 3.2 million members of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), we want to thank you for affording us the opportunity to present our views. The CLC brings together Canada’s national and international unions along with the provincial and territorial federations of labour and 130 district labour councils whose members work in virtually all sectors of the Canadian economy, in all occupations, in all parts of Canada.
Employment Insurance
The CLC has long supported the provision of special benefits (maternity/parental/adoption, sickness, and compassionate care benefits) through the Employment Insurance program. Such benefits are, as the Supreme Court has recognized, a legitimate extension of the original purposes of an unemployment insurance program, providing temporary replacement of wages during an absence from work. Before the recession, special benefits amounted to almost $4 billion per year or almost one-third of all EI benefits. They now make up an important part of the Canadian income security system.
Maternity/parental benefits allow working parents, especially women, to better balance the demands of work and family care, helping equalize labour market outcomes between women and men while also contributing in a central way to the well-being of very young children. Compassionate care benefits similarly allow workers a short period of leave to care for close relatives. Sickness benefits provide an important income cushion to cover an involuntary absence from work of up to 15 weeks.
Statement to the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities Regarding Bill C-56, Employment Insurance Special Benefits for Self-Employed Workers