Canada – Employment Insurrance – New claims established after Sept. 15 are entitled to five fewer weeks of benefits

The Canadian government has quietly not renewed an employment insurance pilot program designed to benefit people across the country who live in regions with high unemployment.

The Extended Employment Insurance Benefits Pilot Project provided an extra five weeks of benefits to people living in 21 designated regions across the country. The program was introduced in 2004 and last renewed in 2010. The 2010 renewal expired Sept. 15.

The end of the program came to public attention Wednesday in a briefing by P.E.I. Innovation Minister Allen Roach about EI changes and their impact on the provincial economy. The province’s initial concern was changes made to clawback of earnings while receiving EI. Roach said there was no notification from Ottawa that the extended benefits pilot was ending.

P.E.I. received no notice of the end of the program, says provincial Innovation Minister Allen Roach. (CBC)

“The federal government implemented it but they never said a word,” said Roach.

“They were mum on it as far as the public is concerned.”

New claims established after Sept. 15 are entitled to five fewer weeks of benefits. For example, those EI recipients with 12 weeks of work will qualify for only 23 weeks as compared to 28 under the EI pilot program…

Choosen excerpts by JMM from

via EI program for high unemployment areas axed – Politics – CBC News.