44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 30, 2024 10:00AM
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to once again speak to this bill. I may not use up all of my 10 minutes. Sometimes when I say that, however, I end up running over my time. I therefore say it at my peril or the peril of the House.
Bill C-318 is a private member's bill that made its way to the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities. I forget the name of my colleague's riding, but I want to commend this bill for its single focus, which is to ensure equity in maternity and parental leave by providing adoptive parents with a system equitable to that available to biological parents. I think that equity is what this bill seeks to achieve. In committee, we had the opportunity to meet with Adopt4Life several times—I commend Ms. Despaties, by the way—and it was recognized and shown that when it comes to the bonding experience of adopted children, regardless of their age at adoption, the child's origin or any accompanying difficulties, bonding time is very important.
This bill has to do with children's rights, but also with the time that should be granted to parents to ensure that they are available to welcome a child into the family properly and that the child gets all the services and care they need from their parent. I think that is self-evident. I heard the parliamentary secretary when he rightly said that the economic statement included a commitment to add 15 weeks. I would go even further than that and say that the former employment minister was on board with that. It is still part of the minister's mandate letter to add 15 weeks of parental leave for adoptive parents.
I think the only thing missing now—this is the first hour of third reading—is the royal recommendation. That is what is needed to move forward and fully enact this bill. I think that is what the government needs to do. My understanding is that it intends to do so. At least we hope so. Although when I hear the government, specifically the parliamentary secretary, say that the government plans to reform EI, I have to pinch myself. We are all a little ashamed—including workers, unemployed workers' groups and the members of the Bloc Québécois who are advocating for a comprehensive reform of employment insurance—that we thought the government was actually going to do it. The government promised this in 2015, 2019 and 2021. According to the minister's mandate letter, this reform was supposed to be implemented in the summer of 2022. It is almost summer 2024, and still nothing has been done. There has been nothing in either the economic statements or the budget to address the reality of workers and initiate a reform to strengthen EI.
Instead of this piecemeal approach, EI reform could have already included 15 weeks for adoptive parents. It could have already included 50 weeks of sickness benefits instead of 26 weeks, as the government did. It also could have specifically fixed the situation of mothers on maternity leave who have the misfortune of losing their job while on leave and end up no longer having access to regular employment insurance benefits. We need to correct these discriminations, provide better access and better benefits to the workers in the seasonal industry. It was all hot air and broken promises from the government. What is more, the current Minister of Employment had no qualms about telling workers and the unemployed at a meeting that this was not on the agenda.
In that respect, the government's actions—and its eight years of broken promises—are deeply disappointing. This mainly affects workers, but it also affects the unemployed. This government has admitted that it took too long to reform the system when the pandemic hit and that the system was full of holes. Not giving adoptive parents fair treatment in terms of parental leave, not giving them the 15 weeks of benefits under the guise of ensuring equivalency, is akin to discrimination or having two different levels of benefits in very similar situations.
Quebec has managed to address this. Since 2021, the Quebec parental insurance plan, which provides far more coverage than federal EI plan, has allowed for benefits to be adapted so that adoptive parents are treated the same as non-adoptive parents.
This reality has been acknowledged. Now what we need is a commitment from this government, a royal recommendation so this bill can see the light of day.
The people I am really thinking of here are adoptive parents. I met with some of them and their kids to learn more about how life-changing it is to be able to be with their kids from the start and have enough weeks of benefits to be with them. Adoption is a choice that comes from the heart, a choice parents make because they believe in it. We want to do everything we can to ensure that these children have the best parents in the world. In order to give them every opportunity, we have to recognize the challenges that parents may encounter during an adoption. Sometimes things go very well, but people should never give up the right to the same amount of parental leave that biological parents get.
I hope this bill will see the light of day as soon as possible.
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- Apr/30/24 6:24:27 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to this private member's bill. My friend, the member of Parliament for Battlefords—Lloydminster, is an amazing person and I have the opportunity to sit with her at our committee. I must say I never really imagined that I would have the opportunity to speak about this kind of thing in the House of Commons, but here we are talking about something that has the potential to have a profoundly positive impact on the lives of parents and children.
I guess I come back to this point, which I have been thinking about over and over again: I know, from my own personal experience in life, that families are families. They are created in many different ways, and how their government treats them should be the same. There should be fairness in how we treat families and in how those families come to be.
I speak of my own personal experience a bit in that I left home when I was pretty young and I was taken in by a family. I was never formally adopted or anything, but they are absolutely my family. They are my siblings and all their kids call me “uncle” now, for sure. It took time for us to develop that bond, but it is a bond that is as strong as any bond. They are my family, and I consider myself incredibly lucky to have that family.
I have to say that, when we were at committee, we heard testimony from a number of families who came to speak and share their stories. It was among the most beautiful, heartwarming, compelling stuff I had ever heard. It was emotional. When we hear the stories of adoptive parents, some of the circumstances around which an adoption occurs and the life that adopted children sometimes lead until the point of adoption, there are some tragic stories.
For parents who make that choice to adopt kids who maybe have been in and out of foster care and have witnessed horrible, terrible circumstances in their short lives, it takes a long time to build trust. We heard about a number of young people who were adopted, and it took them a long time to feel like they were safe and that this would not be just another place they would be bounced through and on to the next place. It took a long time to know that they were loved.
I ask members to think of that for a moment. I find it so hard to imagine a kid existing in this world who is not sure if they are loved. I do not think it is hyperbole to describe as heroic those parents who take that choice to rescue young children out of horrible circumstances and make them part of the family. It may be a word that gets bounced around a bit too much, but in this circumstance it is absolutely accurate. It is nothing short of heroic to take a life and build that self-worth and that love, and create a family in a different way than maybe is traditionally done.
To me, this would be a really common-sense, simple change to our EI system that would offer a little more assistance and support to all families. Talking about the bill, now the Liberals are talking about having it in their own legislation and adopting parts of it, and I fear that it may not happen. There is an awful lot of talk all the time on that side and the results are not always delivered, so I really wish we would just adopt this bill. We have heard from other parties in the House that there is lots of support for it. There is lots of support in the country for this move. It makes common sense, especially now in a circumstance where the cost of living is really hurting all families.
Mortgage rates have doubled and rents have doubled. Families are struggling to heat their homes and to put food on their tables. This is an impact that adds one more burden and one more stress on families of all kinds. However they are created, those families deserve the same level of support, and I do generally believe this is a disadvantage that is very easy for us to fix.
I am really grateful to my colleague for coming forward with such a simple yet important bill that is, as we can see, easily supported by everyone. It is just a common-sense thing that makes complete sense. If we were to adopt this, it would give 15 weeks to adoptive or surrogate parents, who are shorted 15 weeks of support when they start their families. It is fundamentally unfair, and this is a very simple way to make sure all those families are treated equally by their government.
I do not have a lot more to say. I am really touched by what this is. I am touched by the parents and the families who came to talk to us and who shared their stories, and they did that even when it could be difficult. They are passionate, and their passion is infectious. Members have maybe heard that in the House from other colleagues on all sides. I could ramble on, but it seems unnecessary. This makes complete sense, and I remain grateful to my colleague for bringing it forward and for the opportunity to speak briefly to it today.
I salute all those families across this country, however their families are started. In the House, I believe that we need to have their backs, and this is a great way to do it.
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Madam Speaker, as has been said, Canada's current parental benefit system puts adoptive and intended parents at a disadvantage. With access to 15 fewer weeks of leave through the employment insurance program, families formed through adoption and surrogacy are robbed by our parental benefit system of precious time together, time that is needed to care for their child, to bond and to form healthy attachments, and time that is critical in the first year of a child's life or placement with a family. The purpose of Bill C-318 has always been to fix that disparity in our system, to recognize the unique challenges faced by these families and to ensure that they have equal access to leave benefits.
Unfortunately, without having received a royal recommendation from the Liberal government, the bill's journey is coming to an end today. The bill had cross-partisan support and should have been an opportunity for collaboration, but the Liberal government opposed the bill throughout the process. At second reading, the Liberal government voted against the bill. At the committee stage, Liberals fought against amendments that would have removed any ambiguity in the bill around customary care arrangement for indigenous families. The amendments were challenged again in the House by the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader.
Canadians who are following the issue closely would know that after opposing Bill C-318, the Liberals then introduced a benefit similar in principle. This provides cause for cautious optimism. The proposed benefit would help close the parental leave gap. That section of the bill received unanimous support in the House at second reading, but it is not across the finish line yet. The Liberal government has tied the changes to an omnibus bill, making it impossible to ensure its quick passage. The definition of “placement” in the Liberal bill is not entirely clear either, leaving it, in parts, to regulation. The Liberals' fight against the inclusion of customary care arrangements in Bill C-318 raises more questions than answers.
The Liberal government has given Canadians reason after reason to distrust it. The disability benefit is a stark example that is top of mind for so many Canadians across the country. The Liberal government refused to do the work at the front end to tell Parliament and Canadians what the benefit would look like. The so-called framework legislation has no concrete dates, eligibility requirements or benefit amounts.
The then minister of employment, workforce development and disability inclusion repeatedly said that the new benefit would lift persons with disability out of poverty. We also heard that the benefit would roll out in about a year's time. It has been just about a year since the bill received royal assent, and Canadians with disabilities who have been desperately waiting for the rollout of the benefit were hit with massive disappointment when the budget was announced. The six dollars a day will not pull anyone out of poverty, much less in the current cost of living crisis. To receive the benefit, persons with disabilities will have to wait until July 2025.
It is very difficult to trust the Liberal government to deliver what it has promised to Canadians. The Liberals have refused to work collaboratively on this meaningful and straightforward policy change, but every day that passes without fixing the inequity in our parental leave system means another family that is left without the time it needs to attach. It means more parents who will have to return to work prematurely to make ends meet or who are forced to take the extended parental leave at a significant financial disadvantage. Adoptive and intended parents deserve equal access to parental leave. More importantly, their children need the additional time with their parents. These families are faced with unique challenges, and the time to attach is truly crucial.
As the House ends its consideration of Bill C-318, I would like to express how truly grateful I am for all those who have supported the bill. I thank the thousands of Canadians who have signed petitions and written to their MPs and to the minister, and all those who have shared their personal stories and advocated tirelessly for the changes.
While the Liberal government has ensured that Bill C-318 will not cross the finish line, I remain deeply committed to ensuring that adoptive and intended parents get the time they need and deserve with their children.
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