Friday, February 20, 2009

Liberal Critic Response

Earlier today, Feb.20 I sent the following letter to 3 Liberal MP's and Senator Sibbetson.
I got a surpriseingly quick response from Michael John Savage, Cole Harbour and Liberal HRSDC Critic and member of the HUMA Parliamentary Committee. He requested a tele-conference for early next week! So if you have any further ideas or topics that haven't already been discussed here and the Facebook Group, please forward them to me prior to Monday the 23rd.
Cheers Chris

Hello Honourable Members;

I thought I should write to you all at once because the 3 of you have shown interest in helping this cause move along in the process(s) of Parliament.
Can you tell me what decision, if any has been made to introduce the Campaign through a question to Minister Findley during Question Period, or at the Committee level ?
The other question I'm curious to ask is has there been any announcements regarding the Panel of Experts that is to be struck to look into the proposed Maternity/Parental Benefits for the Self Employed. AS I have said before, this action will most likely bring more avenues and possibilities to all the Self Employed.

I appreciate your continued interest in this cause and I know you are busy with many other topics, especially so because of the main Budget still having to pass muster in the House.

Please keep me up to date on this and any other points that may arise.
Just as an aside, I have never got a response from the Ministers ( Findley,Flaherty, Harper) on this nor anything from Gail Shea or Lawrence MacCauley, so I can only assume that denotes their level of interest, to put it nicely.

Cheers
Chris Hopkins
Campaign for Equality in the EI Act for the Self Employed
902-969-8569

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Next Focus for our Efforts

The next step to getting what we hope for is to lobby the Committee responsible that committee is HUMA. It's membership is
Vellacott.M@parl.gc.ca <Vellacott.M@parl.gc.ca>; Martin.T@parl.gc.ca <Martin.T@parl.gc.ca>; Allison.D@parl.gc.ca <Allison.D@parl.gc.ca>; Beaudin.J@parl.gc.ca <Beaudin.J@parl.gc.ca>; Cadman.D@parl.gc.ca <Cadman.D@parl.gc.ca>; Cannan.R@parl.gc.ca <Cannan.R@parl.gc.ca>; Folco.R@parl.gc.ca <Folco.R@parl.gc.ca>; Lessard.Y@parl.gc.ca <Lessard.Y@parl.gc.ca>; Komarnicki.E@parl.gc.ca <Komarnicki.E@parl.gc.ca>; Savage.M@parl.gc.ca <Savage.M@parl.gc.ca>; Minna.M@parl.gc.ca <Minna.M@parl.gc.ca> Sorry for the doubles, hey use them twice.
I drafted the following letter to them, basically the same asthe Ministers letter but directed towards them. Cut and Paste into emails with different addresses, date and sign. Lets do this. Edit it as you please.

FebruaryXX 2009

Dear Honourable HUMA Committee member

I am writing to you today on behalf of the 2.3 Million Self Employed Canadians who now find themselves or may find themselves “unself-employed” during this economic downturn in our economy.

I was encouraged by the Governments commitment to strike a Panel of Experts to study the best way to bring Parental and Maternity benefits to some of the Self Employed men and women. There was also some inclusion in the special allotment of $500 Million for training, which is also good.

The main thrust of the National Campaign for Equality in EI for the Self Employed is to bring all of those who wish to opt in, the ability to contribute to and be able to access benefits for Medical, Parental, Maternity and General Benefits across Canada.

As it has been pointed out to you in past letters, this is very doable and legislation is there in the Employment Insurance Act to allow Parliament to quickly open it up to us.

As for determining who is or isn’t in dire need, there are many easy avenues to show the need. As the burden of proof is rightly on the Self Employed individual to show need, many mitigating factors are normally present.
Parental Benefits and Maternity Benefits and Medical Benefits would fall under the same rules and proof of need as any other Canadian applying for those Benefits.

As was mistakenly pointed out in the Canadian Press article on January 27th by a representative of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the allotment of General Benefits for the Self Employed is in fact not hard to prove need.

An assortment of documents produced by someone other than the claimant, such as, Bankruptcy Filings, Statement of Business failure by a accredited accountant, and bank statements, would certainly prove the need and failure of their livelihood. As for the other comments by the CFIB, I would like to point out that their membership is stated by them as 105,000 Independent Business people. Our numbers are 2.3 Million and we feel they do not speak for us nor should they.

Most of us have saved for rainy days such as what is now upon our nation, and unfortunately we, like most Canadians have seen those savings disappear. Even if some Self Employed had some savings left, that doesn’t mean they have to use them up before seeking Benefits, as other Canadians in the same situation do not have to. And at this time if any Canadian had any spare money to invest, just what would they invest in?

This can be done, it could be self financing just like the rest of the EI program, along with the fact that it would only add approximately 1-2 % to the allotted amount scheduled to be spent on improved EI benefits. That is very a very small investment by the current Government to save a major portion of the backbone of Canada’s economy at this time of uncertainty, if they require assistance.

In closing I will only ask that you and your Committee Members take a hard look at the points I have brought forward and that when they strike this Panel of Experts looking at Parental and Maternity Benefits you seek to include actual Self Employed Canadians to be an integral part of the panel.

I wish you all the best and look forward to positive news in the media, on CPAC, and within our group as you move forward.

Sincerely

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Supportive Editorial

Today out here on PEI we got a very supportive Editorial in the Charlottetown Guardian. Here's the link
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?sid=218226&sc=103

If you spot one in your local paper please post it here

Monday, February 2, 2009

Letter for Everyone to Send

It's Monday the start of another work week. If you have time please cut and paste the following letter into an email to Dianne Findley, Minister of HRSDC and CC you MP.
Her email is Finley.D@parl.gc.ca ,
Feel free to edit the letter, I am certainly not a pro at this, so have at it, and her! Also forward it to your friends, employees, co-workers, family, and friends to have them send it also, PLEASE.
We need to keep the pressure on.


FebruaryXX 2009

Dear Honourable Dianne Findley

I am writing to you today on behalf of the 2.3 Million Self Employed Canadians who now find themselves or may find themselves “unself-employed” during this economic downturn in our economy.

I was encouraged by your Governments commitment to strike a Panel of Experts to study the best way to bring Parental and Maternity benefits to some of the Self Employed men and women. There was also some inclusion in the special allotment of $500 Million for training, which is also good.

The main thrust of the National Campaign for Equality in EI for the Self Employed is to bring all of those who wish to opt in, the ability to contribute to and be able to access benefits for Medical, Parental, Maternity and General Benefits across Canada.

As it has been pointed out to you in past letters, this is very doable and legislation is there in the Employment Insurance Act to allow Parliament to quickly open it up to us.

As for determining who is or isn’t in dire need, there are many easy avenues to show the need. As the burden of proof is rightly on the Self Employed individual to show need, many mitigating factors are normally present.
Parental Benefits and Maternity Benefits and Medical Benefits would fall under the same rules and proof of need as any other Canadian applying for those Benefits.

As was mistakenly pointed out in the Canadian Press article on January 27th by a representative of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the allotment of General Benefits for the Self Employed is in fact not hard to prove need.

An assortment of documents produced by someone other than the claimant, such as, Bankruptcy Filings, Statement of Business failure by a accredited accountant, and bank statements, would certainly prove the need and failure of their livelihood. As for the other comments by the CFIB, I would like to point out that their membership is stated by them as 105,000 Independent Business people. Our numbers are 2.3 Million and we feel they do not speak for us nor should they.

Most of us have saved for rainy days such as what is now upon our nation, and unfortunately we , like most Canadians have seen those savings disappear. Even if some Self Employed had some savings left, that doesn’t mean they have to use them up before seeking Benefits, as other Canadians in the same situation do not have to. And at this time if any Canadian had any spare money to invest, just what would they invest in?

This can be done, it could be self financing just like the rest of the EI program, along with the fact that it would only add approximately 1-2 % to the allotted amount scheduled to be spent on improved EI benefits. That is very a very small investment by the current Government to save a major portion of the backbone of Canada’s economy at this time of uncertainty, if they require assistance.

In closing I will only ask that you and your departmental policy staff take a hard look at the points I have brought forward and that when you strike this Panel of Experts looking at Parental and Maternity Benefits you seek to include actual Self Employed Canadians to be an integral part of the panel.

I wish you all the best and look forward to positive news in the media and within our group as you move forward.

Sincerely