A rchive Date
[ 09-06-2000 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[Quebec wants maternity money
By GLENN WANAMAKER-- CNEWS Politics
The upside to Quebec's perpetual state of sovereignty envy under a PQ government is that it's always striving to show voters it can run the show better than Ottawa.
True, it made a terribly embarrassing mess in its employment ministry after taking over the federal governmment's job training programs.
Last summer, things got so bad that training programs were cancelled and support services were slashed, leaving tens of thousands of job-seekers up the creek without promised programs and money.
After one cabinet minister called the situation a "losing condition" for sovereignty, emergency measures were put in place and the department has since made an admirable recovery.
Now, with the curtains closed on that little disaster, the Bouchard government is on the offensive again, serenading Ottawa with Irving Berlin's lyrics from "Annie Get Your Gun."
"Anything you can do, I can do better than you..."
While the federal government has outlined plans for an improved maternity leave program to take effect next January, Quebec has now announced a better program to be implemented a year later.
It would offer higher benefits, be open to more women, eliminate the two-week waiting period, provide paternity leave, and include self-employed workers.
While not as good as some European plans, it would be the most generous program in North America. The opposition Liberals grudgingly approve, and a coalition of 17 women's groups, unions and family organizations also support the intiative.
To finance it, however, Quebec wants to recover the money being paid into the federal program by Quebec employees and employers.
"No you can't," sang Prime Minister Jean Chretien.
"Yes we can," warbled Quebec Health and Social Services Minister Pauline Marois.
After introducing legislation, she fired off a letter to federal Human Resources Minister Jane Stewart outlining Quebec's money transfer demands.
If a new round of negotiations fail -- which, judging by Chretien's initial reaction, seems more than possible -- Quebec will take Ottawa to court.
The federal employment insurance law allows employers to withdraw from a national program if it offers an equivalent or better program.
As an employer, Marois said, Quebec intends to do that and will sue if Ottawa continues to say no.
Quebec first proposed establishing its own parental leave program about three years ago, but negotiations failed.
Not to be outdone, Ottawa announced in the last budget it would make improvements to its national program.
In January, it will provide 55 per cent of a parent's salary to a maximum of $39,000 for 50 weeks -- double the length of benefits now available.
In comparison, Quebec's plan would offer mothers up to 75% of their salary up to 40 weeks. Or, they could choose a 50-week leave at 70% for 18 weeks and 55% for 32 weeks. Unlike the federal plan, the self-employed would be eligible.
Plus, fathers could take a five-week leave at 70% of their salary. Eligibility requirements under the Quebec plan are also more favourable to both low-income and higher income workers.
All this would cost an estimated $666 million a year, of which $44 million would come from higher premiums.
But the lion's share, about $532 million -- the amount currently contributed by Quebec employers and employees -- would be recovered from the Employment Insurance Fund.
Quebec also wants to get back its share of money paid into a transition fund for Ottawa's new plan.
There's a hitch of course. Assuming that Chretien's "no" means "maybe," Quebec and Ottawa would still have to agree on Quebec's share.
And for the moment, they don't. They're about $60 million apart.
The haggling, it seems, is over Ottawa's contention that because Quebecers are having fewer babies than other Canadians, Quebec should get less than the full amount -- a revenge of the cradle in reverse.
But that argument may simply be a smokescreen for Ottawa's real position, which is "No you can't" and "go ahead and sue."
WORD OF THE WEEK: POUBELLE
It means 'garbage can.' But it sounds especially dirty when you stick it in a newspaper headline and say that Quebec's Mauricie region (which includes Jean Chretien's Shawinigan) is the "poubelle" of the U.S.A.
Which apparently it has become. A waste disposal site in the region is accepting soil that is far too contaminated to be buried without treatment in the U.S.
This fairly recent development is a direct result of a 1998 decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to impose tough new standards on handling contaminated soil.
Much to the discomfort of Quebec Environment Minister Paul Begin, who was getting ready to chair the latest meeting of federal-provincial environment ministers, the story exposed Quebec's own lax standards.
Quebec cannot close its borders to the waste because the North American Free Trade Agreement does not allow a double standard.
That is, Quebec cannot apply stricter standards to the toxic waste of others that it does not apply to its own.
Begin says he's already presented cabinet with a plan to set stricter standards for everyone's contaminated soil.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]]
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