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House Hansard - 153

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 3, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 153 - Feb/3/23
Ms. Louise Chabot (Thérèse-De Blainville, BQ)
  • Feb/3/23 11:37:25 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, employment insurance delays are longer than ever. Currently, one-quarter of EI applications take extra time to process, and more than half of those take over 50 days. That means people with no income are waiting 50 days. Officials even advised people without jobs to use food banks or get their partner to support them. The kicker is that, while all this is going on, the minister has been cutting her employees' hours of work. When will she do something about this fiasco?
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Context: House Hansard - 153 - Feb/3/23
Ms. Ya'ara Saks (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Lib.)
  • Feb/3/23 11:38:02 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. When Canadians lose their jobs and when Quebeckers lose their jobs, we know that they rely on the EI system to be that first point of contact for them. We know that some people have been experiencing delays during this time. We have been working very carefully with those claimants to ensure that they get their payments. With regard to the staffing issues, the minister said quite clearly yesterday that we are addressing this. We want to make sure that first point of contact for Quebeckers or for any Canadian calling an EI call centre is that they get the service they need. We have committed to working with Service Canada to ensure that full employment is in place.
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Context: House Hansard - 153 - Feb/3/23
Ms. Louise Chabot (Thérèse-De Blainville, BQ)
  • Feb/3/23 11:38:41 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, what people are going through with EI right now is a fiasco. It is just like the passport crisis, only this time, the federal government's victims are not waiting to travel, they are waiting to buy groceries. Service Canada is more like “no-service Canada”. This government is just lurching from one crisis to the next. It is over here putting out one fire while two more are breaking out over there. When will the minister make sure Service Canada can actually provide services to people?
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Context: House Hansard - 153 - Feb/3/23
Ms. Ya'ara Saks (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Lib.)
  • Feb/3/23 11:39:20 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the EI program is currently coming out of its annual winter peak period, and the department fully mobilized its workforce to get clients paid as quickly as possible. In 2022-23, the average wait time was 24 days for Canadians across the country, and 76% of EI payments were made within 28 days, which was within the standard. We know people are waiting. We know it is a sensitive issue, which is why we are ensuring that claimants who are experiencing delays are getting the service they need.
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