Agreement to amend the Canada – Ontario Labour Market Development Agreement

Note: By agreement of the Parties, the agreement was signed in English only. The French version is provided for convenience only. In the event of a conflict with the English version, the English version prevails.

Between

The Government of Canada, hereinafter referred to as "Canada", represented by the Minister of Employment and Social Development styled as the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, and the Canada Employment Insurance Commission

And

The Government of Ontario, hereinafter referred to as "Ontario", represented by the Minister of Education and Training

Hereinafter referred to as "the Parties"

Preamble

Whereas the parties concluded the Canada-Ontario Labour Market Development Agreement (“Canada-Ontario LMDA”) on November 23, 2005;

Whereas the Canada-Ontario LMDA was amended on June 15, 2006, December 22, 2006, June 27, 2007, August 6, 2008 and May 22, 2009;

Whereas in Budget 2016, the Government of Canada announced that it would provide an additional $125 million in 2016 to 2017 to be allocated among the provinces and territories under the LMDAs to help ensure unemployed Canadians can access the training and supports they need to develop their skills and pursue opportunities for a better future;

Whereas to access this additional funding the parties agree to amend the Canada-Ontario LMDA to reflect this one-time increase to the federal contribution toward the cost of Ontario Benefits and Measures for fiscal year 2016 to 2017;

Whereas the definition of “insured participant” in section 58 of the Employment Insurance Act (“EI Act”) was amended effective July 3, 2016 and Ontario has expressed the desire to expand the definition of “EI client” in the Canada-Ontario LMDA applicable to the Ontario Benefits and Measures to reflect the definition in the EI Act;

Therefore, the parties agree to amend the Canada-Ontario LMDA, as amended from time to time, as follows:

The Canada-Ontario LMDA is amended to replace the definition of "El client", under section 1.2 of the Canada-Ontario LMDA by:

  1. The Canada-Ontario LMDA is amended to replace the definition of “EI client”, under section 1.2 of the Canada-Ontario LMDA by:

    ““EI Client” means an unemployed person whom, when requesting assistance under a Ontario Benefit or Measure,

    1. is an active EI claimant, or,
    2. had a benefit period that ended within the previous 60 months, or
    3. has a benefit period established under a “provincial plan” as that term is defined in section 76.01 of the Employment Insurance Regulations, or has had that benefit period end within the previous 60 months, and who would have been entitled to receive special benefits under sections 22 or 23 of the EI Act had they not been entitled to receive provincial benefits, as this term is defined in section 76.01 of the Employment Insurance Regulations, under the provincial plan.”
  2. The Canada-Ontario LMDA is amended by adding the following section, after section 14A (referenced as Article 14A in the 2009 Omnibus Amending Agreement):

    “14B. Notwithstanding anything in section 14 in fiscal year 2016 to 2017, Canada agrees to increase the maximum contribution payable to Ontario under section 14 based on an allocation methodology that takes into account Ontario’s shares in the national total of the following two variables:

    1. Number of EI Part I claims with regular benefits paid (50% weight)
    2. Number of unemployed workers (50% weight)

    Therefore, the maximum contribution payable under section 14 towards the costs of Ontario benefits and measures is increased by an amount not exceeding the amount, rounded to the nearest thousand, determined by the following formula:

    C = [(A × 0.5) + (B × 0.5)] × $125 million,

    where:

    C is the amount of additional funding payable to Ontario for fiscal year 2016-2017; and

    A is the number of claims made under Part I of the EI Act with regular benefits paid in Ontario, divided by the number of these claims with regular benefits paid in Canada, both in 2014 to 15, as per Annex 2.4 of the 2014 to 2015 Employment Insurance Monitoring and Assessment Report; and,

    B is the average number of unemployed workers in Ontario, divided by the average number of unemployed workers in Canada, both from April 2014 through March 2015, as determined by Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey.”

  3. As a result of this formula, Canada will pay to Ontario an additional amount of $43,415,581 for fiscal year 2016-2017, towards the costs of Ontario benefits and measures.
  4. The Canada-Ontario LMDA is amended by adding the following, after section 16.2:

    “16.3 The payment of the additional amount of funding determined under section 14B for fiscal year 2016 to 2017, will be made once this amending agreement has been signed by both parties.”

  5. The Canada-Ontario LMDA is amended by adding the following, after section 8.5:

    “8.6 The parties agree that results measurement and reporting related to the additional amount of funding provided under section 14B for fiscal year 2016 to 2017, will be consistent with the process described in Annex 5.”

  6. In all other respects, the Canada-Ontario LMDA shall remain unchanged.
  7. This amending agreement shall be read together with the Canada-Ontario LMDA as amended from time to time and takes effect as if its provisions were part of the Canada-Ontario LMDA.
  8. This amending agreement comes into force once it has been signed by both parties.

Signed on behalf of Canada in Gatineau on this 15st day of December, 2016.

_______________________
The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos
Minister of Employment and Social Development styled as the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development

_________________________
Louise Levian
Chairperson, Canada Employment Insurance Commission

Signed on behalf of Ontario in Toronto this 8th day of November 2016

_______________________
The Honourable Ian Wishart
Minister of Education and Training

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