Agreement to amend the Canada – New Brunswick Labour Market Development Agreement

List of acronyms and abbreviations

• Canada: The Government of Canada
• EI: Employment Insurance
• LMDA: Labour Market Development Agreement
• New Brunswick: The Government of New Brunswick

Between

The Government of Canada, hereinafter referred to as "Canada", as 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 New Brunswick, hereinafter referred to as “New Brunswick”, represented by the Minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour

Hereinafter referred to as “the parties”.

Preamble

Whereas the parties concluded the Canada-New Brunswick Labour Market Development Agreement (“Canada-New Brunswick LMDA”) on December 13, 1996;

Whereas the Canada-New Brunswick LMDA was amended on June 6, 1997, December 23, 1998, May 2003, August 31, 2005, May 22, 2009, March 24, 2017, February 23, 2018, March 31, 2018 and July 9, 2019;

Whereas Canada and New Brunswick recognize that workers in seasonal industries are an important part of Canada’s continued prosperity and experience unique labour market challenges due to the cyclical nature of seasonal work;

Whereas Canada announced in its Budget 2018 that it would make available additional funding for 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020 to the provinces and territories under the Labour Market Development Agreements to support workers in seasonal industries;

Whereas Canada is prepared to provide a time-limited targeted increase to the federal contribution to the costs of provincial benefits and measures for fiscal year 2019 to 2020 under the Canada-New Brunswick LMDA to support workers in seasonal industries;

Therefore, the parties agree to amend the Agreement as follows:

Clauses

1. the Canada-New Brunswick LMDA is amended by adding the following heading and section after section 13D:
   • “Targeted time-limited increase in contribution to costs of provincial benefits and measures to support workers in seasonal industries
   • 13E notwithstanding anything in section 13, for fiscal year 2019 to 2020, Canada agrees to increase the total maximum contribution payable to New Brunswick under section 13 based on the following allocation methodology, rounded to the nearest dollar
   • A funding floor of $250,000 is provided to New Brunswick if the following formula results in an allocation below $250,000:
     • (A/B) x $20.5 million

       Where

       • A is the number of Employment Insurance (EI) Regular Beneficiaries (total completed seasonal claims according to EI Program administrative data) in 2016 to 2017 in EI Economic Regions where the unemployment rate was over 6.3% (the average national unemployment rate for 2017 according to the Labour Force Survey) in New Brunswick;
       • B is the number of EI Regular Beneficiaries (total completed seasonal claims according to EI Program administrative data) in 2016 to 2017 in all EI Economic Regions in Canada where the unemployment rate was over 6.3%.
   • if New Brunswick is not receiving the funding floor, the total maximum contribution payable under section 13 towards the costs of provincial benefits and measures is determined by the following formula, rounded to the nearest dollar:
     • (A/B) x C

       Where:

       • A is the number of EI Regular Beneficiaries (total completed seasonal claims according to EI Program administrative data) in 2016 to 2017 EI Economic Regions where the unemployment rate was over 6.3% (the average national unemployment rate for 2017 according to the Labour Force Survey) in New Brunswick;
       • B is the number of EI Regular Beneficiaries (total completed seasonal claims according to EI Program administrative data) in 2016 to 2017 in all EI Economic Regions in Canada where the unemployment rate was over 6.3%, excluding provinces and territories that are receiving the $250,000 funding floor;
       • C is the $20.5 million investment to support workers in seasonal industries made available to provinces and territories, less the amount distributed under the $250,000 funding floor.”
2. the Canada-New Brunswick LMDA is amended by adding the following heading and section, after section 14.3:
   • “Targeted time-limited increase in contribution to costs of provincial benefits and measures to support workers in seasonal industries
   • 14.4 Canada will make payments of its increase in contribution to New Brunswick towards the costs of provincial benefits and measures as determined under section 13E in 2 installments, as follows:
     • 14.4.1 the amount of the first installment equal to one-half (50%) of the increase determined under section 13E will be paid upon the signing by both parties of this amending agreement;
     • 14.4.2 the amount of the second installment equal to one-half (50%) of the increase determined under section 13E will be paid upon a written request from New Brunswick, and such request must be received by Canada no later than February 3, 2020.”
3. the Canada-New Brunswick LMDA is amended by adding the following, after section 7.7:
   • “7.8 the parties agree that results measurement and reporting related to the increase of funding provided under section 13E for fiscal year 2019 to 2020, will be consistent with the process described in Annex 5 to this Agreement entitled ‘Performance Measurement Strategy and Targets’.”
4. this amending agreement will not impact the allocation methodology established by Canada for allocating among provinces and territories the funding approved each year by Canada for expenditures under Part II of the Employment Insurance Act (currently $1.95 billion per year), which, the parties acknowledge, is the allocation method described in the letter dated June 26, 1996, from the Deputy Minister of the Department of Human Resources Development to the Deputy Minister of Advanced Education and Labour.
5. in all other respects, the Canada-New Brunswick LMDA shall remain unchanged.
6. this amending agreement shall be read together with the Canada-New Brunswick LMDA as amended from time to time and takes effect as if its provisions were part of the Canada-New Brunswick LMDA.
7. this amending agreement comes into force once it has been signed by both parties.

Signed on behalf of Canada
in Gatineau
this 1 day of August, 2019

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

Signed on behalf of New Brunswick
in Fredericton
this 14 day of August, 2019

____________________________
The Honourable Trevor A. Holder
Minister of Post-Secondary Education,
Training and Labour

____________________________
Graham Flack
Chairperson, Canada Employment
Insurance Commission