Canada – Employment insurance changes hasty and unwise

The federal government introduced a 425-page bill in the spring to ram changes through Parliament on everything from employment insurance to the age of retirement. The government refused all pleas to split the bill up so that each resulting piece of legislation could be debated adequately. Now the finance minister is at it again, introducing another monster 400-page bill related to the budget.

There is a pattern here of acting in haste, refusing to consult stakeholders, and ignoring all pleas to allow legislation to be debated sufficiently by parliamentarians. This is the wrong way to create public policy. We urge the government to change its ways and to allow this essential debate to take place.

Many of the changes foisted upon us in that blizzard of paper last spring were fundamentally wrong and unfair to working people. We fear that the new bill will do even more damage.

Let’s look at some of what has happened so far. Changes made to employment insurance regulations will force EI claimants to move out of their local communities to take temporary jobs. Forcing workers to take the first available job is not good labour market policy because a period of job search allows for a better fit between unemployed workers and job vacancies across the country. An unemployed welder in Moncton may need time to find a suitable job in Western Canada. The whole premise behind our EI program is that workers, who paid into the insurance plan, will receive income support at a time when they lose jobs and search for new ones. The recent changes are not being faithful to that social contract…

.

Ottawa’s employment insurance changes hasty and unwise
.
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1280019–ottawa-s-employment-insurance-changes-hasty-and-unwise