Mothers accuse Liberals of broken promises as sick leave lawsuit drags on

A group of mothers is calling out the federal Liberal governmentfor not delivering on a campaign promise. They say they were wrongly denied employment insurance benefits when they were ill, and the Liberals still haven't ended the nearly five-year legal battle after promising they would.

Jenn McCrea had every reason to believe the class action lawsuit she launched in 2012, when her son was a toddler, would be over by now.

"I didn't envision him being in Grade 1 and this case still being ongoing," McCrea told CBC News.

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"The Liberals campaigned this time last year on a promise they would end it immediately," if elected, she said.

"It's been a year. We're no closer than we were when Harper was in Parliament."

The $450-million lawsuit represents more than 3,000 women who say they were denied sick benefits while on parental leave between 2002-2013.

The group's lawyer, Stephen Moreau, saidthe Liberals have done nothing to end the legal battle.

"They were more than happy to comment on this when it suited them and I guess it doesn't suit them now to help women when they were ill," Moreau said.

He and McCrea want to know why it's taken a year and what the Liberals will actually do.

Government already spent $2.2M in legal fees

"If they cannot live up to their campaign promise they need to tell me that. They need to publicly tell me that," McCrea said.

"We know the other day they have agreed to pay $100 million to the victims of harassment with the RCMP, so they are capable of investing to resolve litigation problems and I'm curious as to why they're not doing that for these very ill women,"Moreau added.

He says the government has already spent at least $2.2 million in legal fees to fight the case.

Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said it would be inappropriate to comment because the issue is before the federal court.

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