Raise parental EI, NDP urges
CANADA Bill targets families of multiple children
OTTAWA The NDP is hoping for allparty support for a private member’s bill that would double parental leave for the parents of multiples.
The bill comes as the courts continue wrangling with the case of Christian Martin and Paula Critchley, an Ottawa couple that won 35 weeks of employment insurance each back in 2009 when their twin daughters Lucie and Athena were born, only to have it overturned by an umpire on appeal.
The couple is appealing the decision in Federal Court and Christian Martin is expected to be on Parliament Hill Wednesday when the bill is tabled.
“This is not something partisan,” said Sana Hassainia, the NDP MP for Verchères-Les Patriotes who will introduce the bill. “It’s something all Canadian citizens with twins or triplets can benefit from.”
Her bill ultimately seeks to amend the Canada Labour Code so that employees can take up to 72 weeks of parental leave in the event of a multiple birth or multiple adoption. The weeks can be divided between the two parents, used in its entirety by one parent or taken consecutively by each parent.
It would also amend the Employment Insurance Act so that parents of multiples and parents who adopt multiple babies at the same time can receive up to 70 weeks of parental benefits.
Parents of multiples are currently entitled to the same 35 weeks parents with a single baby receive.
Hassainia, who had a baby boy last year and knows how difficult it can to be balance family and work with just one child, said parents of multiples face a whole slew of additional challenges. The mothers often face more difficult pregnancies, she said, and multiples are more likely to be born premature which could result in a whole host of health problems.
“Often one of the two babies may be sick and may need treatment in hospital,” the Quebec MP said in French. “If there isn’t the presence of two parents, it could be hard to look after both babies.”
Based on 2011 figures, she pegs the additional cost to EI at about $27 million, thought the figures are likely to rise.