Report from Parliament's Hill - November 6th, 2009
By Prince George - Peace River M.P. Jay Hill
Friday, November 06, 2009 03:45 AM
"Fairness for the Self-Employed”
This week our Conservative Government not only delivered on our commitment to self-employed Canadians, we exceeded it.
Human Resources Minister Diane Finley introduced the Fairness for the Self-Employed Act on Tuesday. Bill C-56 will provide self-employed Canadians with voluntary access to all Employment Insurance (EI) special benefits. This includes maternity and parental benefits, sickness benefits and compassionate care benefits.
All parents face the immense challenge of juggling children and their jobs. Yet currently, the self-employed face a much harder choice in determining if and when they will have children because it can mean a complete loss of income for several weeks and months.
There are approximately 2.6 million self-employed Canadians who are an integral part of our economy and economic recovery. This includes small business owners, farmers, construction workers, professionals, and those who own a home business, among many others.
This legislation not only extends access to maternity and parental EI benefits to the self-employed – a Conservative promise in the 2008 federal election - it encompasses other EI special benefits that payroll employees can receive.
It’s the fair and right thing to do.
Self-employed Canadians will now have the peace of mind knowing they can access benefits to cope with major life events such as the birth of a child, an illness, or caring for a gravely ill family member.
This EI legislation builds upon the unprecedented measures our Conservative Government has taken to improve EI benefits and training programs to better help unemployed Canadians get back on their feet and back to work.
This includes an additional $1.5-billion investment in training for Canadians whether they qualify for EI or not, as well as EI work-sharing agreements which have been particularly beneficial to forest companies and workers in our region.
Also this week, our legislation to provide up to 20 extra weeks of EI benefits to long-tenured workers was passed by the House of Commons. It will now face scrutiny in the Senate but I am hopeful that senators will recognize the significance of this measure to Canadians who have worked hard and paid into the EI system for years but now find themselves unemployed through no fault of their own.
H1N1 Update
Health officials are encouraging Canadians to be patient as priority groups receive their vaccinations. The federal, provincial and territorial governments jointly agreed that these groups include pregnant women, children under 5, health care providers, and adults with underlying health conditions.
Six million doses of H1N1 vaccine have been delivered to the provinces and territories, meaning there is enough vaccine for priority groups.
Meanwhile, efforts by the federal Liberals to politicize and sensationalize this issue are disappointing and unfortunate. All levels of government are jointly mobilized to roll out the largest mass immunization campaign in Canadian history … and it’s AHEAD of schedule. Plus, Canada currently has MORE H1N1 vaccine per capita than ANY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD!
It’s also important to remember that this is a Pandemic….not a Panic-demic!
Continue to monitor news about vaccine clinics at www.health.gov.bc.ca/flu/, remain vigilant about hand-washing, and, please, stay home from work or school when you’re sick.
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And also, just how long it will be 'optional' and not 'mandatory'. I smell another tax grab in the works here.
Presently, every employer has an additional $ 1.40 deducted from him in EI premiums for every $1.00 deducted from his employees' paycheques. Self-employed people cannot collect EI at all, nor do they have to pay into it.
Presumably, under this new scheme, because the self-employed are not going to receive full EI benefits, but only the "special" benefits, they will not be paying these kinds of rates.
Still, however, they will likely have to pay in excess proportion to those who are only employees for the same benefits, since they are both "employee" and "employer".
One other thing we might want to consider. Every dollar deducted from both employer and employee in EI premiums is a dollar that has been 'costed' into the price of some good or service for sale to the public.
If it's a good that's destined for export, where that price will be paid by some foreign buyer, then if international trade is to have any meaning whatsoever that same amount will have to be be included in the price of some alternate import received from beyond our borders.
Now if this is so, and I don't see how anyone could contend it is not, ALL these kinds of deductions in excess of what are paid back to the general public in benefits act to cause a disparity between "prices", in general, of goods and services for sale 'on the market', and the collective "incomes" of the public that are supposed to be able to fully meet those 'prices'.
If there's a difference, then to sell what's been made or provided, has to be paid for by some other means than through the incomes generated in the making of those goods and services.
And we wonder WHY we sink further and further into the hole of unrepayable debt year by year. Who benefits?