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This article was originally published on benefitscanada.com.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has yet to fulfil his promise to extend parental leave to 18 months, but many Canadians are already thinking about how the federal government could fill the gaps in the current system.
Under the Liberal plan, parents would have a year and a half to take unpaid parental leave but they wouldn?t see an overall increase in any benefits from employment insurance. Instead, they could opt to receive the same benefits in smaller blocks of time during the 18-month period or be absent for the whole duration and receive benefits at a lower level.
So while the proposal allows flexibility in how long parents can take unpaid leave, critics say it fails to address the financial barriers many families face in being eligible for benefits in the first place. ?It?s an equity issue. . . . Many are just not eligible,? says Karen Duncan, an associate professor in the department of community health sciences at the University of Manitoba.
In May, a Canadian study revealed that 41 percent of mothers outside Quebec aren?t able to receive employment insurance because they don?t have the required 600 insurable hours to qualify.
The same study showed 63 percent of Canadian women who earn less than $30,000 didn?t qualify for benefits, compared to just 11 percent in Quebec.
Quebec created its own parental insurance plan in 2006. Workers contribute directly to the plan and pay less in fe...