On the eve of the Fall Economic Statement, the National Council of Unemployed Workers (NCUW) asks whether the Trudeau government is aligning itself with the Conservatives and abandoning its commitment to EI reform.
“At a time when prices are rising and 54% of Canadians are living paycheck to paycheck, the Trudeau government is letting go of its own commitment to reform Employment Insurance,” said NCUW spokesperson Pierre Céré. “After conducting several rounds of consultations in 2021 and 2022 on EI reform, it then indicated that implementation would take place in the summer of 2022. But nothing happened. Nothing. After that, we heard about fall 2022, and they postponed the decision until December, then February 2023 and finally the March 2023 budget. Then nothing. Radio silence. Nothing. Is the Trudeau government giving in to Pierre Poilievre’s rhetoric and accepting Conservative austerity?”
“Chrystia Freeland will table her Fall Economic Statement tomorrow. As much as we would like to be wrong, we can predict that there will be nothing on EI reform. Our message to government members remains this: you should be ashamed!”, concluded Pierre Céré.