432-00926 (Employment and labour)

The Government of Canada thanks the petitioners for sharing their views on the need to support fish processing plant workers and other fishing industry support workers. The Government recognizes that many Canadians continue to face financial impacts as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. During these unprecedented times, the Government of Canada has focused on putting in place measures to help as many Canadians as possible in a timely manner.

As part of Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan, the Government has transitioned from the          Canada Emergency Response Benefit to a simplified Employment Insurance (EI) program, effective      September 27, 2020, to provide income support to eligible workers who remain unable to work. Recognizing that many workers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic will have lost their jobs or worked reduced hours, a set of temporary measures were introduced to facilitate access to EI benefits. These measures include allowing workers to qualify for EI one-time with 120 hours of work, introducing a minimum benefit rate of $500 per week (or $300 for extended parental benefits), providing a maximum entitlement of up to 50 weeks of regular benefits, and temporarily waiving the waiting period for new EI claims established between     January 31, 2021 and September 25, 2021.

To better support seasonal workers and ensure they do not lose access to needed financial support, the Government has proposed legislative changes in Budget 2021 to extend the rules of the existing EI seasonal pilot project until October 2022. The measure would provide up to five additional weeks of EI regular benefits to claimants in 13 regions in Canada, including the region of Newfoundland / Labrador (excluding Saint John’s).

As the economy reopens, the EI system must remain responsive to the needs of Canadians. The Government has proposed a suite of temporary legislative changes to make EI more accessible and simple for Canadians over the coming year while the job market continues to improve.

More specifically, the temporary changes would:

• maintain uniform access to EI benefits across all regions, including through a 420-hour entrance requirement for regular and special benefits, with a 14-week minimum entitlement for regular benefits, and a new common earnings threshold for fishing benefits.
• support multiple job holders and those who switch jobs to improve their situation as the recovery firms up, by ensuring that all insurable hours and employment count towards a claimant's eligibility, as long as the last job separation is found to be valid.
• allow claimants to start receiving EI benefits sooner by simplifying rules around the treatment of severance, vacation pay, and other monies paid on separation.
• extend the temporary enhancements to the Work-Sharing program such as the possibility to establish longer work-sharing agreements and a streamlined application process, which will continue to help employers and workers avoid layoffs.

Budget 2021 also announces forthcoming consultations on future, long-term reforms to EI. Consultations will examine systemic gaps exposed by COVID-19, such as how to provide more consistent and reliable benefits to workers in seasonal industries.

Once again, the Government of Canada wishes to thank the petitioners.