A Bill that will provide up to 50 weeks of employment benefits for Canadians, has cleared Third Reading in the House of Commons.
The Liberal government introduced the Bill in Parliament in February.
As Canada marks the one-year anniversary of COVID-19 many people who lost their jobs because of the pandemic have still not found work.
Under current EI legislation, the maximum duration for EI benefits is 14 to 45 weeks, depending on the rate of unemployment in a particular region.
According to Mary Shortall, president of the Federation of Labour in Newfoundland and Labrador, EI benefits will soon expire for those who filed claims in 2020, after the Canada Recover Benefit (CRB) funds expired.
“There’s 844,000 workers whose CRB will run out at the end of March. There’s another 129,000 whose caregiving benefits will run out and there’s two million EI recipients who, if they qualified for benefits with less than 490 hours, their benefits are going to run out,” she told SaltWire in a recent interview.
There was some worry among labour leaders across Canada, she said, that Opposition parties would use the debate on C-24 to push for major legislative reform of employment insurance and delay the goal of extending the benefit period for those who are still unemployed.
In the end, progress on the Bill was swift.
The Bill was quickly reviewed by the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Development on March 11. The committee determined no ammendments were required and sent the Bill back to the House for third reading today, March 12.
The full text of the Bill is here.
Before it can come into effect Bill C-24 must be reviewed by the Senate, and receive Royal Assent.
The Senate meets next week.
