Faced with the federal government’s inaction on employment insurance reform, organizations defending the rights of the unemployed began a march to Ottawa.
Headed by the National Council of the unemployed (CNC), the walkers will leave Montreal on Wednesday to cover the 200 km that separate them from the federal capital in nine days.
Effective Sept. 25, temporary changes to the EI program to help Canadians access benefits during COVID-19 will no longer be in effect, the EI website reads. use.
And this is precisely what worries the CNC.
The spokesperson for the CNC, Pierre Céré, deplores the return to the status quo, to “a law that the government itself considers to be outdated, unfair, where reform must be made”.
Work more to access employment insurance
Among the measures that will be lost, Mr. Céré highlights in particular the single eligibility criterion for employment insurance, established at 420 hours of insurable employment.
The return to the status quo means that 420 to 700 hours will be needed to qualify for benefits, depending on the regional unemployment rate.
According to Mr. Céré, this is detrimental for part-time workers, that is to say a fifth of employed Canadians, the majority of whom are women, he recalls. Contractual or seasonal workers are also affected, while many regions, such as Gaspésie and the Côte-Nord or the Maritimes, have an essentially seasonal activity, he adds.
” A second [mesure] is that of the sanctions attached to the reasons for termination of employment. The penalty system has been lightened. And there, we come back with the good old machine, on September 25, which weighs down, which spends its time scrutinizing, investigating each reason for termination of employment in the last year, and this makes it possible to exclude a good number of employment insurance claimants,” says Mr. Céré.
Noting the “record unemployment rate of 4.9% and the recovery of 115% of jobs lost during the pandemic”, the office of the Minister for Employment, Carla Qualtrough, confirms in an email the end of the support measures and temporary measures.
“However, the government recognizes that the current employment insurance system must be more flexible, fairer and better adapted to the needs of today’s workers,” adds the office.
Mr. Céré believes that it is not because the unemployment rate is low that we should not worry about the employment insurance program.
“We must not wait for the next crisis. We must repair this holed social safety net. […] We need to bring a new balance to the employment insurance program and ensure better coverage, not by wishing people unemployment, what we wish people is employment,” he adds.
Expected reform
“This reform, we expected it last year, notes Mr. Céré. What came instead was the announcement of a consultation. We were good players and we took part in these consultations, which lasted almost a year. »
In an email, Minister Carla Qualtrough’s office explained that “in the summer of 2021, the government began its two-year process of consultations with Canadians and stakeholders to build a modern, resilient EI system. , accessible, adequate and financially sustainable”.
The report of the first phase of consultations, which concerned better access to employment insurance, was published in April.
The second phase of consultations, which included workshops on self-employment, seasonal work and the financing of employment insurance, ended on July 29 and the report is expected in the fall, says the office. of the minister.
“The government is currently analyzing the feedback gathered during the two phases of consultation aimed at developing and putting forward a solution for the modernization of the Employment Insurance system that is informed by the important comments of the stakeholders, and Canadian workers and employers. The government is expected to announce details of this plan in the coming months,” the office adds.
Sickness benefits
The Trudeau government’s 2022 budget planned to increase the duration of EI sickness benefits from 15 to 26 weeks starting in the summer of 2022. The 2021 budget also announced this.
It promised $3 billion over five years “to increase the sickness benefit period from 15 to 26 weeks”, an “extension which would take effect in the summer of 2022 [et qui] would provide approximately 169,000 Canadians with more time and flexibility to recover and return to work each year.”
However, organizations defending the rights of the unemployed deplore that nothing has been done.
“Not only is there nothing, but the officials have received no indication,” said Mr. Céré.
“All the insurance companies have remodeled their short and long term salary insurance protection according to the changes to come. And there is nothing,” he adds.
Minister Qualtrough’s office says “the extension of EI sickness benefits from 15 to 26 weeks will be implemented later this year.”
Administrative deadlines
The CNC also denounces the unacceptable administrative delays that Service Canada imposes on thousands of recipients.
“The machine is stuck in a molasses where administrative delays have become inhuman,” notes Mr. Céré. I’ve been in these circles for 40 years. […], what we have been experiencing since the beginning of this year is unheard of. People who wait four, five, six, seven months before receiving unemployment benefits, sometimes sickness benefits. »
However, he assures that it is not a question of a lack of personnel, as confirmed to him by the union of government employees.
“So what’s going on in this machine to make everything so chaotic?” he asks. That’s what we wear and that’s why we decided to walk. Probably we need some time to loosen up a bit. »
The march started Wednesday at 8 a.m. from in front of the offices of the Comité Chômage de Montréal, located at the foot of Mount Royal. If some will walk the full 200 km necessary to reach the federal capital, supporters have planned to join the route every day.
Upon their arrival in Ottawa on September 22, the activists will hold a press briefing in Parliament accompanied by labor organizations, representatives of First Nations and political parties, including the NDP and the Bloc Québécois. They also want to meet Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.