The National Farmers Union wants the Employment Insurance program changed so farmers and their spouses who work off the farm can collect benefits.
NFU women’s vice-president Joan Brady appeared before the House of Commons status of women committee March 24 to argue that farmers forced to work off the farm and pay EI premiums often are ineligible to draw benefits because of the rules.
She said a major part of the problem is that EI considers gross farm revenue to be offsetting income.
Brady said her husband, Bruce, worked off their Ontario farm for years to help pay the bills.
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“We shipped hogs each week and as a result, David was never eligible for EI because those hog shipments were recorded as income against his claim.”
In 1999, they were losing $100 per hog sold and their overall family income was negative, but EI counted them as having a positive income.
Brady recommended that EI rules be changed so that farmers can count net rather than gross income.
It would allow farmers to receive not only EI but also the retraining money that comes with the program.
“The NFU recommends that substantial changes be made to the EI program to ensure that women workers, particularly those in rural communities, are able to fully access benefits including job training and other educational programs and that those benefits be increased,” she told MPs.
“The NFU further recommends that changes to the EI program be implemented to enable self-employed persons including farmers to participate meaningfully in the program.”
Brady told Winnipeg Liberal MP Anita Neville that job retraining is a clear advantage to EI eligibility.
She said when her family decided to get out of the hog business in 2006 after years of losses, she was able to receive training through the Canadian Agricultural Skills Service that ran out of funding this winter.
“Speaking from my own perspective, that’s what saved us,” she said.
“It gave us some resources to begin with again, for sure. It was to provide farm families with the opportunity to educate themselves and discover new opportunities. It was great. There is no talk of renewing it.”
She said the NFU wants EI insurable income to increase to $42,000 indexed to inflation.
As well, she complained that EI rules mean farmers are not considered for payment eligibility during the production season of April to October because of sales revenues.
MPs on the status of women committee were sympathetic, not only on the EI issue but also on issues of inadequate rural day care and the support that rural farm women receive for their social, business and parenting roles.
The issue of EI eligibility also came up at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture annual meeting in late February, but the argument was different. Delegates overwhelmingly defeated a proposal from Nova Scotia delegates that farmers be eligible for EI in the months they are not producing crop.
