The rules, to be revealed in the next few weeks, are part of the Harper government’s attempt to get more Canadians into the workforce and deal with a mismatch in the employment picture where more than 1 million Canadians can’t find work while employers are complaining of thousands of job vacancies.
But the new approach first raised in the federal budget could make hard-to-access EI benefits even harder to hold onto. And critics say the tinkering with EI planned by Human Resources Minister Diane Finley fails to address major problems with the program — regional imbalances and rules that mean only 25 per cent of laid-off employees in Toronto can obtain benefits.
Details have not been made public, but the most significant of the planned changes is likely to be more stringent rules for EI recipients to prove they are ready and available to work.
According to the budget document, the new measures will “strengthen and clarify what is required of claimants who are receiving regular EI benefits and are looking for work.”
In practice, this is expected to mean tougher compliance rules for the reports that EI recipients are required to file to Ottawa every two weeks to maintain their benefits. For the first time, recipients may have to provide documentary evidence to prove they were actively looking for work.
Also, the government will for the first time coordinate information on job openings and jobless workers in Canada with the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, under which employers are allowed to bring in short-term foreign employees. The government’s goal is to make sure employers hire Canadians for local openings before asking Ottawa for approval to bring in foreigners.
“As we face unprecedented skills shortages, it will be increasingly important to connect local employers with potential local employees first,” explained Alyson Queen, a spokesperson for Finley.
But the planned changes have sparked concerns about what lies ahead for laid-off workers needing EI support. Among the questions:
• Will the new compliance rules drive workers off EI?
• How far will EI claimants be required to travel to accept what the government calls “local” jobs?
• Will EI claimants be pressured to take jobs with substandard wages or working conditions?
NDP human resources critic Jean Crowder said the new compliance rules “came out of the blue” and have never been presented for discussion by Finley.
Crowder said it’s worrisome because it sounds as if the government “is going to put in additional restrictions on compliance, which would reduce the number of people able to claim EI.”
Also, the link to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program could compel Canadians to take employment that companies have been offering to workers from abroad rather than raising wages or improving working conditions, Crowder said.
Critics also lamented the lack of major action in the budget to address the declining accessibility of EI benefits and the patchwork quilt of eligibility across the country.
“The regional imbalances and the fact that EI is not reaching about half the unemployed — and more than that in Ontario — is not only not addressed, it’s not even acknowledged,” said Matthew Mendelsohn, director of the University of Toronto’s Mowat Centre, which produced a recent report on EI.
He said the changes in the budget are largely irrelevant to the main problems with the EI program.
“It would have been nice if the budget had said, ‘we want to look at the question of whether we’re treating workers in all regions of the country fairly’ but it didn’t,” Mendelsohn said.
However, some EI claimants may see minor improvements in their benefits next year when the government alters the way benefits are calculated. And the budget provided incentives meant to help claimants accept part-time jobs while looking for full-time employment.
Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Les Whittington
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