The National Council of Unemployed Workers (NCUW) expresses disappointment that EI sickness benefits will not be increased.
“The 2021 and 2022 federal budgets indicated that sickness benefits would be extended from 15 to 26 weeks in the summer of 2022. The government has always indicated that the extension would take effect in August 2022. Today is September 1st and there’s still nothing on the horizon,” said Pierre Céré, spokesperson for the NCUW.
Over the years, several political parties and civil society representatives, including the NCUW, have called for the extension of sickness benefits, deeming the 15-week cap to be largely insufficient.
“Not only the government is not acting on this, but there are not communicating anywhing: we know nothing about their plan for sickness benefits, and even less about the EI reform to which they were committed, and which was to take over when the temporary measures that will expire on September 25th. The population is being left in the dark: this is unacceptable,” concluded Pierre Céré.