New EI rules in Quebec / Calling on other provinces to support overhaul

The Quebec government is calling on other provinces to support its demand for immediate changes to employment insurance measures that sparked widespread protest against Ottawa last spring. The call to arms is a response to a provincial task force that concluded the new EI rules had contributed to the impoverishment of the unemployed, especially women and seasonal workers.

“We are asking the federal government to change direction and acknowledge the report tabled this afternoon,” said Minister of Canadian Intergovernmental Affairs Alexandre Cloutier on Wednesday. “We want them to correct this situation. They have everything they need now. They didn’t even have studies to know the impact it [the reform] would have on the economy. Now they do.”

While reiterating the Parti Québécois’ demand for giving Quebec full powers over the employment insurance program, Labour Minister Agnès Maltais said the priority right now was to persuade Ottawa to review its changes.

“It doesn’t matter whether we are sovereignist or not. It’s a matter of taking care of the people of Quebec. That’s it!” Ms. Maltais said.

The EI changes hit Quebec’s outlying regions particularly hard with an estimated 40 per cent of Canada’s seasonal workers living in the province. The task force called for the removal of different categories of unemployed and the elimination of the criteria that required workers to accept jobs up to an hour’s drive from their residence or lose benefits.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at 

via Quebec rallies provinces to support EI overhaul – The Globe and Mail.