“It has no chance because it is outdated…. It really hasn’t kept up with the pace of odd workers, migrant workers, and seasonal workers. So it is not ready to deal with this reality.”

A report released by the committee on Thursday made 20 recommendations. Among them:

• Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) has reduced the number of working hours required to obtain benefits, “to ensure that all kinds of workers across Canada, including part-time or non-standard workers, have fair access to opportunities.”

• The ESDC explored ways to provide regular EI benefits to self-employed people, including those in the gig economy.

• The federal government becomes a regular donor, working with employers and employees to help fund EI benefits.

• Service Canada has improved the “quality and accessibility” of support for EI applicants, the report says, otherwise this may become a barrier to access to benefits, especially for low-income individuals, seniors, people with language barriers, and others Vulnerable Groups.

“This is a 40-year-old system that has actually only been adjusted,” Casey said, describing the committee’s recommendation as “a major overhaul, not a reform…to make EI more accessible, more accessible and more Can reflect today’s workplace.”

Join odd jobs

The committee’s report was released before the government’s review of the EI system, and the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development, and Disability Inclusion Carla Qualtrough requested in her recent authorization letter a plan to modernize the system and attract workers from odd jobs. .

“With the development of the gig economy and more and more people accepting contracts and working as freelancers, EI needs to develop to accommodate this growing workforce,” said Ken MacKenzie, president of the Canadian Association of United Designers. Theater set and costume designer.

MacKenzie said that when the pandemic hit, theaters were one of the first institutions to close, and it may take years for the industry to return to pre-pandemic employment levels.

“For people who are already struggling economically, we are looking for a long road to economic struggle,” he said.

Questioning the division of EI zone

The committee also asked the government to reconsider how the employment insurance system divides the country into 62 economic zones, with eligibility requirements and welfare levels related to the unemployment rate in each economic zone.

In addition, the committee specifically recommended that the government return the PEI to a single EI district within 12 months. Casey said he promoted this as the committee chair and that this move would reverse the controversial work done by Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party. change.

The CD Howe Institute told the committee that benefits based on local unemployment put part-time workers in low unemployment areas at a disadvantage because they need more time to receive benefits.

In a briefing by the Immigration Rights Network, the committee was told that eligibility rules are unfavorable for part-time, seasonal, and contract workers, and therefore the failure of the EI program “has the most obvious feelings of racialization and female workers being forced into the most insecure parts of the labor market. “

The chairman said that society’s interest in safety nets

After proposing to return his home province to the single employment insurance area, Casey said the most important recommendation in the report is to make the government a funding partner for employment insurance again. Ottawa stopped funding the program in 1990 and has since used EI surplus to help balance the federal budget.

He said: “The existence of a safety net is in the best interest of society. At present, there are no such safety nets for certain types of workers. In this era, the working class is increasing.”

The conservative members of the committee provided their own reports of opposition, urging the government not to implement “mandatory EI insurance premiums for job-killing for self-employed individuals.”

The Conservative Party stated that the introduction of the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) in March 2020 was “a direct result of the Liberal government’s failure to deliver on its 2015 election promise to modernize the EI system”.

The committee’s review was facilitated by a motion of the Quebec Group. In the appendix to their own report, the group members stated that when the pandemic hits, the EI system “is clearly not up to the task…. The Quebec group has been seeking for years to make major reforms. The need for major reforms has changed immediately. Obviously to everyone.”

EU members stated that they agreed with the recommendations in the report, but did not fully convey the “sense of urgency we feel” that change is needed.