Government Survey Just Released

Article in Toronto Star June 18, 2009
More benefits not key for all self-employed
June 18, 2009

OTTAWA-A pledge to extend maternity and parental benefits to the
self-employed is now part of the Conservative government's pitch to stay
in power next fall.

Problem is, for nearly half the country's self-employed, it's a pitch
that seems to fall flat.

A survey of self-employed Canadians, commissioned by the Human
Resources and Skills Development Department, shows half expressed
"interest" in parental benefits - which may be taken by either parent or
shared by both.

But 45 per cent expressed little or no interest in them.

As for maternity benefits - paid to a mother who takes leave from work
after the birth of a child - 45 per cent showed interest and, more
important, 47 per cent showed a lack of interest, according to the
survey.

What really interested a majority of the 882 self-employed Canadians
who filled out an in-depth survey was access to sickness benefits or
compassionate-care benefits to care for a child or gravely ill family
member (83-86 per cent).

And 74 per cent liked the idea of EI-like benefits in case of business
failure. One-quarter expressed little or no interest in this.

Yet 56 per cent of self-employed workers were not at all interested in
a mandatory program that would see them charged premiums for access to
benefits.

The lengthy analysis of the needs and attitudes of Canada's
self-employed was completed in May 2006 after the Conservatives took
power.

Last fall, as part of his pitch to female voters, Harper proposed only
a voluntary program that he said would cost $147 million annually and be
self-financed once self-employed people opted in and began paying
premiums.

Right now, self-employed Canadians - outside Quebec - do not pay into
the employment insurance program and are not eligible for jobless
benefits, maternity or otherwise.

More than 2.6 million Canadians are self-employed.

Letter from Minister Findley

After waiting for 2 months for a reply from the Minister I received the following letter today. Nothing that we already didn't know but we can now assume she realises we're out here looking for benefits also. You be the judge!

Dear Mr. Hopkins:



I am writing in response to your electronic message of January 14, 2009, which the Office of the Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, also forwarded to me, concerning the Employment Insurance (EI) program. I also acknowledge receipt of your subsequent correspondence of January 22 and 28, 2009, as well as February 4, 2009. I apologize for this delayed reply.

Self-employed workers are an important component of the labour force and they make a significant contribution to the Canadian economy and society.

Under the current EI eligibility requirements, workers receive benefits only if they have contributed to the program by paying premiums in the past year and if they meet qualifying and entitlement conditions. Moreover, the EI program is currently designed for workers in employer-employee relationships. Other than self-employed fishers who have a deemed employer, self-employed workers are not insured under the EI program. In regards to self-employed fishers, the buyer of their catch takes on the role of the employer by paying the employer's portion of EI premiums, filling out Record of Employment forms and maintaining records related to the self-employed fishers' earnings.

In the November 19, 2008, Speech from the Throne, the Government indicated that it would take measures to increase access to maternity and parental benefits under EI. Further to this, as you point out, Budget 2009 announced that the Government will be establishing an Expert Panel that will consult on how to best provide self-employed Canadians with access to EI maternity and parental benefits. These benefits could help self-employed parents to better balance work and family responsibilities and give them the opportunity to spend more time with their newborn or newly-adopted children.



You may be pleased to learn that through Canada's Economic Action Plan, the Government increased the funding to provinces and territories for training and support measures through the Strategic Training and Transition Fund, which will, amongst others, provide support to self-employed workers.



In regards to your interest in the membership of the Expert Panel, further information on the Panel will be made available over the coming months.


Thank you for taking the time to write.

Yours sincerely,

The Hon. Diane Finley, P.C., M.P.

Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development

EI Debate march 5th in the House

There was a lengthy debate on all of EI around a motion made by the NDP and Supported by the Liberals and BQ. You can read all about it at a link posted on the Facebook Group page, for some reason I can't post it here.
Self Employment is mentioned several times as is this Campaign by Micheal Savage ( Dartmouth-Cole harbour)
Its a long read, bedtime story but at least it's made it to the floor of the House.

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

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

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

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