The changes to the Employment Insurance Act that were adopted in C-38, the Harper government’s first omnibus budget implementation bill, will have serious and negative consequences in every part of the country.
The Montreal Gazette has reported, “(These changes) include a measure requiring frequent EI recipients to accept jobs that provide 70 per cent of their previous pay packets, and also to accept new jobs that require a one-hour (100-kilometre) daily commute.” Global Montreal adds, “The rules also mean more scrutiny over how diligently recipients are looking for work. EI recipients will have to look for work every day and keep detailed logs of their searches.” And CBC News has noted that Human Resources and Skills Development Canada has “set national and regional EI enforcement targets, putting a dollar value ($430 million) on the quantity of improper payments it hopes to track down” by declaring recipients ineligible.
The labour movement in Quebec has called on all progressive forces to come together on Saturday April 27 to challenge these regressive policies. In Montreal, people will be gathering at Place du Canada (near Peel and Bonaventure metro stations) at 12 noon, with a march beginning at 1:15 pm.
There is hope that there will also be demonstrations across the country at this time as well. If you are organizing a protest in the next number of weeks against Harper’s attack on Employment Insurance, please share that information with us by contacting pcharbonneau@canadians.org.
