C-249 (45-1) - An Act to amend the Employment Insurance Act (combined weeks of benefits rule and certain benefits)
Chamber
commons
Stage
1st Reading
Introduced
Oct 21, 2025
Progress
This bill improves EI maternity, parental, and critically ill adult caregiver benefits by removing caps and extending coverage.
Key Changes
- Removes the combined weeks of benefits cap (50-week limit) for maternity and parental EI benefits
- Allows the EI benefit period to be extended for claimants receiving maternity or parental benefits
- Increases the maximum weeks of EI benefits for caring for a critically ill adult from 15 to 26 weeks
- Updates the 26-week critically ill adult caregiver maximum to apply to both employed and self-employed claimants
- Allows the 26 weeks of critically ill adult caregiver benefits to be divided among multiple caregivers
- Repeals Schedule IV of the Employment Insurance Act, which contained related provisions now superseded
Gotchas
- The bill is a private member's bill introduced by an NDP MP, meaning it does not have automatic government support and may face a more uncertain path to passage.
- Removing the combined weeks cap for maternity and parental benefits could allow some claimants to receive more total weeks of EI benefits than currently permitted, which has fiscal implications not addressed in the bill text.
- The bill does not specify a fiscal cost or funding mechanism for the increased benefits.
- The extension of the critically ill adult caregiver benefit from 15 to 26 weeks nearly doubles the current entitlement, which could significantly affect caregivers of adults with prolonged serious illnesses.
- Repeal of Schedule IV removes existing rules that may have governed combined benefit calculations; the full downstream effect of this repeal is not detailed in the bill text.
Who's Affected
- New parents receiving maternity or parental EI benefits
- Canadians caring for a critically ill adult family member or friend
- Self-employed people who have opted into EI special benefits
- Workers who receive multiple types of EI benefits in the same benefit period
Vibes
0 responses
Gotchas
- The bill is a private member's bill introduced by an NDP MP, meaning it does not have automatic government support and may face a more uncertain path to passage.
- Removing the combined weeks cap for maternity and parental benefits could allow some claimants to receive more total weeks of EI benefits than currently permitted, which has fiscal implications not addressed in the bill text.
- The bill does not specify a fiscal cost or funding mechanism for the increased benefits.
- The extension of the critically ill adult caregiver benefit from 15 to 26 weeks nearly doubles the current entitlement, which could significantly affect caregivers of adults with prolonged serious illnesses.
- Repeal of Schedule IV removes existing rules that may have governed combined benefit calculations; the full downstream effect of this repeal is not detailed in the bill text.
Summary
Bill C-249 makes three main changes to the Employment Insurance (EI) Act. First, it removes the 'combined weeks of benefits' cap for people receiving maternity or parental benefits, meaning these claimants won't have their total benefit weeks reduced when they also receive other types of EI benefits. Second, it allows the benefit period to be extended for people who are receiving maternity or parental benefits, giving them more flexibility in how they use their entitlement. Third, it increases the maximum number of weeks someone can receive EI benefits while caring for a critically ill adult from 15 weeks to 26 weeks. This bill was introduced as a private member's bill by NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice. It aims to strengthen support for new parents and family caregivers by closing gaps in the current EI system. Under the existing rules, combining different types of EI benefits can reduce the total weeks available to claimants, which this bill seeks to fix for maternity and parental leave recipients. The changes would affect both regular employees and self-employed people who have opted into the EI system for special benefits. The critically ill adult caregiver benefit increase also applies when multiple people are sharing care of the same adult, with the 26-week maximum being divisible among caregivers.
Automatically generated from bill text using Claude
Vibes
0 responses