New parental benefit will be arriving 'in the coming months'
CTV
The federal government is preparing to implement a new parental benefit that will offer parents who adopt or grow their families with the help of a surrogate more time at home with their baby, CTV News has learned.
The federal government is preparing to implement a new parental benefit that will offer parents who adopt or grow their families with the help of a surrogate more time at home with their baby.
CTV News has learned that major reforms to employment insurance will be announced in the coming months and the overhaul will include a new 15-week parental benefit.
Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough told CTV National News in an exclusive interview that a new adoptive parent benefit is being created and will include parents who welcome a child via surrogacy.
"It's a matter of equity," the minister said. "We need to make sure people bond and we heard that very loudly during our consultations on EI modernization that parents want this and we are going to deliver it for them."
The Liberals promised during the 2019 federal election to introduce a 15-week leave for parents who adopt so that "everyone gets the same benefits," but families growing with the help of a surrogate were excluded.
The promise was repeated in the Employment Minister’s 2021 mandate letter.
Years later, the changes still haven't been implemented.
