It’s Mat Leave Monday! Here in Canada Employment Insurance (EI) reform is a hot topic. I hear it’s going to bring down the government and force an election. Since maternity and parental benefits are administered through the EI system, I thought the reforms might affect mat leave. Today I’m going to examine EI reform and see if there’s any connection.

For the non-Canadians, the brief version is that Canada has a minority government right now. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have fewer seats in Parliament than the other parties do in combination. So the other parties can band together and declare that they don’t have confidence in the Prime Minister. Then the Governor General typically dissolves Parliament and calls an election. This sounds very exciting, but in practice is actually rather tedious, since the government is constantly on the brink of collapse or we’re voting yet again. But maybe I’m just jaded.

Anyhow, back to EI reform.

Bill C-280, sponsored by NDP Member of Parliament Carol Hughes, contains the proposed EI reforms that are currently being debated. The bill makes the following changes to EI:

The lowered qualifying period does not seem to impact ‘special’ leaves, such as maternity and parental leave. Maternity and parental benefits have a 600 hours qualifying period right now, which does not vary from region to region. I think this is because theoretically your likelihood of collecting maternity or parental benefits does not change with the unemployment level in your community. Certainly, the bill itself makes no mention of maternity or parental leave.

The change to the way benefits are calculated, using your highest-paying 12 weeks, would presumably impact all types of EI, including maternity and parental benefits. So if you had a variable income, this would work in your favour. I think that reducing the qualifying period would have a greater impact for most families, however.

Another NDP Member of Parliament, Chris Charlton, proposed separate legislation to deal with the problems facing parents who are laid off following maternity or parental leave, and do not qualify for EI. Charlton’s proposed reforms involve eliminating the current 50-week cap, so that moms such as myself with no job to return to could access EI. However, like most private member’s bills this one appears to be dying a quiet death.

I don’t know what makes the most sense here. It’s clear that losing your job and having no EI to fall back on can be a serious hardship for many Canadians. Lowering qualifying periods may help more people to access EI. But extending maternity and parental leave to the self-employed, or providing maternity benefits to adoptive parents, would help families as well. I think it’s clear that the EI system could be improved, and that it is not serving all Canadians as well as it could.

It’s also clear that a lot of political hay is being made here, with no particular guarantee of change. Both of the bills I mentioned are from opposition members, and these bills never pass without the backing of the governing party. While the other opposition parties are rallying around EI reform, they haven’t exactly committed to the changes the NDP is suggesting. So it remains to be seen what, if anything, will actually come of this debate. If you have strong feelings either way, your best course of action is to get in touch with your MP and tell him or her how you feel. Because if there is an election they will want to work to make you happy.