The National Council of Unemployed Workers (NCUW) is concerned about the federal government’s change of course regarding the reform of employment insurance, as evoked by the budget bill and by the ministerial interventions in the media during of the last days. Indeed, it has been argued that the technological infrastructure will need to be updated first before any changes to EI.
“As obsolete as it is, why is the infrastructure is now preventing permanent measures when it has been able to take charge, with success, of the emergency programs (CERB and CRB) and the major, but temporary, improvements to Employment insurance?”, said Pierre Céré, spokesperson for the NCUW.
The government also announced a two-year consultation to review the program.
“What can we say about this consultation, except that the government seems to want to postpone the implementation of real solutions. The problems of EI are well known. Everything has been said, all the stones have been turned, the solutions are known. The government knows it,” continued the spokesperson.
The budget implementation bill confirms, among other things, the return to the status quo in September 2022, that is to say, to a failing and inadequate EI program.
“We are not giving up, but we are acknowledging that the federal government seems to suddenly pass from the highway onto a dirt road. It must find the path to real reform, renewing the entire EI program, using temporary measures as a starting point,” concluded Pierre Céré.