Employment Insurance must be fixed
With mounting job losses, one of the best ways to stimulate the economy and get money into the hands of people most in need, is through Employment Insurance (EI).
Unfortunately, while everyone in Canada pays into EI equally, not everyone is treated equally; for example, a worker in PEI only has to work 420 hours to receive benefits of up to 50 weeks, while a BC worker has to work 700 hours and can only receive EI for a maximum of 41 weeks.
We need to increase the available time for benefits, decrease the time you have to work to receive those benefits, ensure that people who have already lost their jobs in the last few months are eligible, and implement this just for the next two years.
We must also make it easier for people to access affordable job training opportunities to help them get back to work.
Please add your suggestions or comments below on how we can improve Employment Insurance for all Canadians.
-Keith
Employment Insurance must be fixed
2 Responses to “Employment Insurance must be fixed”
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February 10th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Keith,
Great question in question period. It was interesting that the Minister chose to not answer your question at all and throw in the completely irrelevant info that Campbell is OK with the Budget. Campbell’s only OK with it because he knows if he says anything bad about the budget that Harper will pull the “Newfoundland Manouever” and take billions away from BC too.
For your question about EI, I’d like to see the qualifying hours adjusted by industry instead of Region. As you know Keith, up past Sooke, a person who has worked his whole life in forestry or fishing isn’t going to be able to magically find work in the high tech businesses in Victoria, yet EI lumps us all in together.
If you are a young person working in fast food or someone with years of experience in the computer field – you probably don’t need EI, but the fishermen and the forest workers do need it, and not just for 36 weeks that they are getting because they lost their job before this latest budget came in.
That’s my 2-cents.
February 15th, 2009 at 8:44 am
I like Sooke’s suggestion, but why don’t they just let people qualify for fewer benefits if they have fewer hours.
It seems like it is an “all or nothing” model right now.