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House of Commons Debates VOLUME 148 Ï NUMBER 187 Ï 1st SESSION Ï 42nd PARLIAMENT OFFICIAL REPORT (HANSARD) Monday, June 5, 2017 Speaker: The Honourable Geoff Regan CONTENTS (Table of Contents appears at back of this issue.) 11971 HOUSE OF COMMONS Monday, June 5, 2017 The House met at 11 a.m. if the employer cannot reassign a worker who is five weeks pregnant and whose job poses a risk to her pregnancy, she is given preventive withdrawal benefits. She can receive those benefits from the beginning of her pregnancy, thereby avoiding any harm to her fetus. Prayer I think it is important to understand this. One important aspect of preventive withdrawal is that women are PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS eligible from the very beginning of their pregnancy, as soon as there is a risk, unlike parental insurance programs, which only apply once Ï (1105) the woman has reached a certain point in the pregnancy. It is [Translation] important to understand that. CANADA LABOUR CODE Under the existing legislation, if a woman with a high-risk Ms. Christine Moore (Abitibi—Témiscamingue, NDP) moved pregnancy works in an area under federal jurisdiction or if she works that Bill C-345, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (pregnant in a province that does not offer benefits like the ones offered in and nursing employees) be read the second time and referred to a Quebec, she is entitled to preventive withdrawal, but at her own committee. expense. In that case, she will have no income for 20 weeks or several months. She does not have the right to benefits because her She said: Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to present an amended job falls under federal jurisdiction and she is not far enough along in version of the bill that my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite- her pregnancy to be eligible for employment insurance parental Patrie introduced in the previous Parliament because I think this bill benefits. is very important for women's rights at work. Many people do not understand the difference between preventive As a result, these women end up in a situation where they have no withdrawal for pregnant and nursing employees and parental leave income at all and they have to make very difficult choices regarding programs. People may turn to employment insurance benefits when their pregnancy. They either have to choose to continue working, they are in a work situation that puts their pregnancy at risk, but even though doing so will jeopardize their health and their preventive withdrawal is something completely different. Quebec pregnancy, exposing them to the risk of a miscarriage or birth legislation makes preventive withdrawal easier to understand. defects, for example, or they can take leave and end up in a precarious financial situation where they do not have any income Let me explain how it works for a Quebec worker under until they can claim EI parental benefits. provincial jurisdiction to make sure everyone really understands. Quebeckers are very lucky when it comes to parental benefits. To When a worker feels that her work may put her pregnancy at risk, be eligible, women must have earned $2,000 over the past 52 weeks. she requests a medical evaluation. If the evaluation indicates there is That means that most women have access to these benefits. In order a risk, the worker must be reassigned to a less risky position or to be eligible for the federal program, a woman has to have withdrawn from the workplace. accumulated 600 hours. There is no guarantee that she will have The priority really is to try to reassign the worker, because the accumulated the necessary hours, particularly if she chooses to stop employer must pay a certain amount of money if it decides to send working because it is too risky and she is not receiving any benefits the worker home. For instance, the employer has to pay for the first or income during that time. five days. When the worker can be reassigned somewhere with no risks involved, it is definitely better for the employer. This also Many women are placed in a very difficult position, and there is a means the worker can stay in the workplace and still remain safe. very simple way to fix that. The federal government could make an agreement with the provinces that have a better preventive Preventive withdrawal becomes necessary when the employer withdrawal program for pregnant and nursing woman than it does. cannot adapt the workplace or the job. The woman stays home, For example, the federal government could make an agreement with because of the risk, and receives benefits that, in Quebec, are paid by the Government of Quebec so that women in Quebec who fall under the CSST, Quebec's workplace health and safety commission. Those federal jurisdiction are entitled to the same benefits as every other benefits are paid as soon as the workplace poses a risk. For instance, woman in Quebec. 11972 COMMONS DEBATES June 5, 2017 Private Members' Business What benefits would these agreements provide? If every woman employment, and have access to parental insurance, but only after in a given province followed the same rules of preventive a few months. They therefore go back home with no income. The withdrawal it would make things much simpler. It would be much other option is to continue working, with the risks that entails for easier to communicate information, putting women in the same their pregnancy and for the fetus, in order to continue to earn a province on equal footing. That equality is especially important. It is living. outrageous that in a system like ours there are two classes of women depending on whether their employer falls under provincial or Obviously, when there is another person in the couple to help, the federal jurisdiction. That situation could be resolved through these decision may be a little easier to make, but we must not forget agreements. women who are on their own to deal with their pregnancy. In those Under the bill, provincial legislation must to be better than Canada cases, we can say that they have no source of income during a crucial Labour Code provisions for federal employees. That is not so hard to time, precisely when they need money to start buying things to achieve considering that currently under the Canada Labour Code an prepare for the baby's arrival, to eat well, and to stay healthy. What employee is entitled to preventive withdrawal, but at her own we have, in both cases, is a situation where the woman’s health is in expense. Other provinces might choose to introduce preventive jeopardy, whether because she has no income and her status is withdrawal programs and the government could enter into an precarious, or because her work presents a risk. This is a situation agreement with those provinces. that would be impossible to live with, particularly if we consider cases where, for example, a woman might have worked for 10 years Alberta currently has an NDP government, a progressive before becoming pregnant. government, and it is in a position to choose to act on this situation. British Columbia is going to have a coalition government between Mr. Speaker, I know that you cannot become pregnant, but try to the NDP and the Green Party. Again, it can choose to act on this put yourself in the shoes of these women. Imagine that a woman has situation. If so, the federal government could enter into an agreement tried for 10 years to have a baby; she finally becomes pregnant, and to provide measures that would help all the women in those she discovers that she is not entitled to any benefits, when she was provinces. sure she was entitled and all her friends were entitled. In Quebec, for Preventive withdrawal is about the work and not the worker. Take example, there is the CSST, the occupational health and safety for example the woman who has three part-time jobs and wants commission, so the woman in question was certain she was covered, preventive withdrawal. If she can continue working at two of her and that if there was a risk to her pregnancy, she would be eligible jobs, she will get benefits only for the job she is no longer able to do, for benefits. Suddenly, she learns that she is not, because she under and she can withdraw only from that job if she cannot be reassigned. federal jurisdiction, and that if she wants preventive withdrawal, she will have to pay for it. These situations really are impossible to live This also has an advantage when we are dealing with preventive with. withdrawal. In the case of parental insurance programs, when we choose to take the weeks we are entitled to earlier, while continuing It would be easy for the federal government to take action. All it to hold both jobs we are able to do, those amounts are deducted from has to do is enter into an agreement with the provinces so that our benefits. It is therefore not very advantageous to do that, because women in those provinces working under federal jurisdiction are there will be cuts to the amounts of money, and since those weeks eligible for provincial benefits. We can sort out the paperwork have been used, they cannot be recovered. It is more advantageous to afterwards. Relatively few women would be affected, but the issue is take that time to rest. Where there is no preventive withdrawal important enough that action should be taken on this.