44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 22, 2022 10:00AM
- Sep/22/22 2:23:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we will not support tax hikes on Canadians. Speaking of tax hikes, they plan to raise taxes on paycheques.
Now, yesterday, the finance minister claimed that all the EI tax hikes they would collect would go to EI benefits. In fact, I looked it up. Over the next three years, they are going to collect $10 billion more in EI taxes than they pay out in EI benefits, allowing the Prime Minister to grab up the difference and use it to feed his insatiable spending appetite.
Canadians cannot afford a bigger bite off their paycheques. Will the Prime Minister cancel his tax hikes on Canadian paycheques?
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- Sep/22/22 2:38:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, representatives of unemployed workers are in Ottawa today. A spokesperson for the Conseil national des chômeurs et chômeuses and an advisor to the Comité chômage de Montréal even marched here from Montreal.
They came to tell the Prime Minister that he needs to keep his promise to overhaul the EI system. They came to tell him that, in the meantime, ending the temporary measures this Sunday is completely unacceptable. They walked 200 kilometres to send this message.
Will the Prime Minister stand up and announce that he is extending the temporary measures?
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- Sep/22/22 2:39:21 p.m.
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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, more responsive EI system, better tailored to the needs of the workforce. I made a promise to extend EI sickness benefits from 15 to 26 weeks, and they were very happy to hear that.
We are working together to build and modernize the EI system.
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- Sep/22/22 2:40:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Labour Congress, the Syndicat québécois de la construction, the Guilde des musiciens et musiciennes du Québec and member groups of the CNC are all on Parliament Hill to say that they do not accept the fact that the Prime Minister is plunging workers into uncertainty, starting on Sunday.
Ending temporary EI measures without reform is a step backwards towards the same old program that leaves 60% of workers behind when they need it most.
Will the Prime Minister fix this situation by Sunday?
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- Sep/22/22 2:41:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, by ending the temporary EI benefits before there is any reform, the government is leaving workers with a 1970s-era program. It is a program that abandons mothers who lose their jobs during parental leave because it does not account for women being in the workplace; a program that abandons the sickest workers; a program that completely ignores self-employed workers; and a program that considers the workers to be seasonal, instead of the industries they work in.
Is that really the social safety net that the Prime Minister has to offer Quebeckers?
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- Sep/22/22 2:41:50 p.m.
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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, such as the ones I met with this morning.
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- Sep/22/22 2:47:40 p.m.
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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 pandemic.
We are looking forward to announcing our long-term plan. We are looking forward to increasing EI sickness benefits to 26 weeks before the end of December.
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