Suggested Conservative
Dissent to FEWO EI Report
Conservative members of
the committee have reservations about the recommendations contained within this
report and look forward to the Government's official response in this regard.
Conservative Members feel that many of the recommendations – and indeed much of
the witness testimony – did not address the concerns of the majority of
Canadian women. Especially during the current global economic crisis, the
Conservative Members feel it is important to have a report that responds to the
needs of all Canadian women. This includes not only the unemployed, but the
many women small business owners and other employers across the country who are
also affected by the current recession and would be affected by any changes to
the EI system.
As well, many of the
recommendations do not address concerns specific to women. Many are very
general and the Conservative Members believe they are beyond the appropriate
scope of this committee’s report. There are, however, some recommendations
which the Conservative Members do support. These are:
Recommendation
1
- The
committee recommends that Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, in
coordination with Statistics Canada, produce a public monthly report on
Employment Insurance coverage rates using gender disaggregated data for the B/U
ratio and for the proportion of Employment Insurance contributors who received
or will receive Employment Insurance regular benefits, including full time and
part time workers and age category 15 years and older so as to improve
monitoring of the Employment Insurance program’s coverage of unemployed women
and men
Recommendation
14
- The
Committee recommends that changes be made to the Compassionate Care Benefits so
that it responds to the variability of need for care and that these changes be
monitored annually to ensure they respond to the needs of caregivers
Recommendation
15
- The
committee recommends that the medical criteria for Compassionate Care Benefits
be expanded to include a broader definition of ‘the gravely ill’ encompassing
both the severely and chronically ill
Recommendation
16
- The
Committee recommends that the ‘medical proof’ requirements for compassionate
Care Benefits be modified so that they are more flexible.
Conservative members of
the committee understand that Canadians are worried about putting food on the
table and finding work to put food on the table and provide for their families.
That is why the
Conservative government has taken unprecedented steps to support unemployed
Canadians, preserve jobs and re-train workers for the jobs of the future.
To this end, through its
Economic Action Plan, the Government has invested $8.3 Billion for the Canada
Skills and Transition Strategy. Included in this strategy are measures to:
- Increase
for two years all regular EI benefit entitlements by five extra weeks and
increase the maximum benefit duration to 50 weeks from 45 weeks.
- Provide
$500 Million over two years to extend EI income benefits for Canadians
participating in longer-term training.
- Extend
work-sharing agreements by 14 weeks, to a maximum of 52 weeks.
- Extend
the Wage Earner Protection Program to cover severance and termination pay owed
to eligible workers impacted by employers' bankruptcy.
- Increase
funding for training delivered through the EI program for $1Billion over two
years.
- Invest
$500 Million over two years in a Strategic Training and Transition Fund to
support the needs of individuals who do not qualify for EI training, such as
the self-employed or those who have been out of work for a prolonged period of
time.
- Add
$60 Million over three years for the Targeted Initiative for Older Workers;
expanding it to include workers in small cities.
- Add
$55 Million over two years to help young Canadians find summer jobs.
- Invest
$40 Million a year to launch the $2,000 Apprenticeship Completion Grant.
- Invest
$50 Million over two years for a national foreign credential recognition
framework in partnership with the provinces and territories.
- Invest
$100 Million over three years in the Aboriginal Skills and Employment
Partnership (ASEP) initiative, expected to support creation of 6,000 jobs for
Aboriginal Canadians.
- Invest
$75 Million in a two-year Aboriginal Skills and Training Strategic Investment
Fund, and;
- Freeze
EI premium rates for both 2009 and 2010.
Conservative members of
the committee understand that the Government is monitoring the effectiveness of
the actions it has taken to help Canadians and improve the EI system as to
ensure that these measures are working and responding effectively to the
evolving economic circumstances.