For Immediate Release November 4, 2009

The Government of Canada Delivers Employment Insurance Fairness for
the Self-Employed

Ottawa—Ed Komarnicki, Member of Parliament for Souris-Moose Mountain and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour is pleased to highlight that the Conservative Government tabled the Fairness for the Self-Employed Act to fulfill a platform commitment to the self-employed and a promise contained in the Throne Speech. The legislation provides the self-employed, on a voluntary basis, access to all Employment Insurance (EI) special benefits such as maternity, parental, adoptive, sickness and compassionate care benefits.

“Our Conservative Government believes that self-employed Canadians should not be forced to choose between their family and their business or enterprise. These men and women are the backbone of our country,” said Komarnicki. “This legislation would offer new opportunities to roughly 2.6 million self-employed Canadians who come from all sectors of the economy and include small business owners, farmers, trades people, professionals, sales and service people and those who own a home business.”

The EI special benefits include 15 weeks of maternity benefits, 35 weeks of parental benefits, 15 weeks of sickness benefits and 6 weeks of compassionate care benefits. It will be strictly a voluntary opt in program where a person must be in the program a full year in advance of making a claim. A person can opt out if benefits have not been received. The premium rate will be the same as for regular employees currently 1.73%.

“It is a good program that I think will attract a good number of self-employed Canadians who are likely to be most affected by the special benefits,” said Komarnicki.

Komarnicki was quite pleased with the comments of Richard Phillips, Executive Director of the Grain Growers of Canada who said, “This has huge potential for quality of life in rural Canada…This could be the difference as to whether one member of the family has to seek off farm employment because now families will have a choice.”

“This is the type of action that many self-employed Canadians, many of whom have paid employees, have asked for from the point of fairness,” said Komarnicki. “I agree that this is the fair and right thing to do.”

For more information on this proposed measure, please visit www.hrsdc.gc.ca.

 

backgrounder
Fairness for the Self-Employed Act

Income protection for life-transition events, such as the birth of a child, adoption, illness, and the care of a gravely ill family member, is a key contributor to the financial security of all Canadian workers. The 2008 Speech from the Throne recognized the challenges facing self-employed Canadians as they deal with the dual pressure of being entrepreneurs and caring for their families. In Budget 2009, the Government proposed to examine ways to best provide self-employed Canadians with access to Employment Insurance (EI) maternity and parental benefits. The Government has now introduced the Fairness for the Self-Employed Act, legislation that would fulfill and exceed this commitment.

Through the new legislation, self-employed Canadians who opt into the EI program would be eligible to receive the same special benefits currently available to salaried employees, specifically:

• maternity benefits (15 weeks maximum) are available to birth mothers and cover the period surrounding birth (a claim can start up to 8 weeks before the expected birth date); 

• parental/adoptive benefits (35 weeks maximum) are available to biological or adoptive parents while they are caring for a newborn or newly adopted child, and may be taken by either parent or shared between them (if parents opt to share these benefits, only one waiting period must be served);

• sickness benefits (15 weeks maximum), which may be paid to a person who is unable to work because of sickness, injury or quarantine; and

• compassionate care benefits (6 weeks maximum), which may be paid to persons who have to be away from work temporarily to provide care or support to a family member who is gravely ill with a significant risk of death. 

Under the proposed legislation, self-employed Canadians would be required to opt into the program at least one year prior to claiming benefits. They would also be responsible for making premium payments starting with the tax year in which they apply to the program. With a program start date of January 2010, claims could be made as early as January 1, 2011. 

To access EI special benefits, self-employed individuals would need to have earned a minimum of $6,000 in self-employed earnings over the preceding calendar year.

The self-employed could opt out of the EI program at the end of any tax year, as long as they have never claimed benefits. If they have claimed benefits, they would have to contribute on self-employed earnings for as long as they are self-employed.

Self-employed Canadians who opt into the program would pay the same EI premium rate as salaried employees. They would not be required to pay the employer portion of premiums, in recognition of the fact that they would not have access to EI regular benefits.

Through the Economic Action Plan, the Government of Canada has also implemented measures to support all unemployed Canadians. These measures include providing 5 extra weeks of EI regular benefits, increasing the maximum duration of benefits from 45 to 50 weeks in regions of high unemployment, protecting jobs through the Work-Sharing program, and freezing EI premiums for 2010 at the same rate as 2009 to provide economic stimulus. For more information on these measures, please visit www.actionplan.gc.ca

Most recently, the Government introduced legislation to extend EI regular benefits for unemployed long-tenured workers, who are individuals that have paid EI premiums for years and made limited use of the program, and who now need additional support while they look for jobs in a recovering economy. Further information on this proposed measure is available at www.hrsdc.gc.ca