Proposed changes to EI perturb Atlantic Canada

[Unknown]

May 18, 2012

Proposed changes to EI perturb Atlantic Canada

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

Tory revamp that could force people to move to where jobs are and penalize repeat claimants
would mostly be an attack on seasonal workers
The debate over proposed changes to the $22-billion employment insurance system - which could
force people to move to where the jobs are and penalize repeat claimants - has created a stir
across the country, but nowhere more so than out east.

In Atlantic Canada, where nearly half of EI claimants have seasonal jobs in the fishery,
construction, tourism and agriculture, EI is less an insurance program than an income
maintenance plan. And it represents a major chunk of the region's economic pie: EI contributed
about $2.8-billion to the Atlantic provincial economies in 2009 alone.

The last time a government attempted to overhaul the system, it paid a big price: 20 Liberal
MPs from the four Atlantic provinces were thrown out of office in the 1997 election, largely on
the back of Jean Chrétien's cuts for chronic claimants.

But if Conservative ministers are worried about their re-election prospects, they're not saying
so publicly. "I can't discuss cabinet confidence," says Defence Minister Peter MacKay, whose
Central Nova riding has one of the highest unemployment rates in the province. Instead, he
provided a detailed list of the more than $405-million in investments the government has made
to his riding since 2006, arguing these have helped create jobs.

Although the government has yet to reveal its strategy, many of the workers who would be
affected are concerned about the apparent direction. "If the Conservatives follow the route
they are talking about and if they don't make something clear soon, it's going to really hurt
them in the next election," warns Lloyd Robicheau, 52, who fishes for lobster and herring from
Nova Scotia's Three Fathom Harbour.

Mr. Robicheau has fished for 29 years, and for the past six years he's also owned and operated
a blueberry farm. But from late November to April, he draws unemployment insurance.

"If they think Ontario doesn't have seasonal workers, they better think again," he says. "If
they never had the Maritimes, the West wouldn't be able to function, because half of the
workers out there are from here. That's a fact."

The concern for Mr. Robicheau and others is that the Tory revamp would mostly be an attack on
seasonal workers, who tend to live in rural areas, be older and have fewer employable skills.

"There is simply more at stake for Atlantic Canada," says Elizabeth Beale, economist and
president of the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council (APEC). "We've got a bigger stake and
share of our economy in non-urban areas and that's where employment insurance matters."

Dalhousie University economics professor Lars Osberg believes the proposed changes are all
about optics - being tough on Maritimers is good for the Conservatives' Western base. In
Alberta, for example, only 9.2 per cent of claimants are seasonal workers - the second lowest
in the country. Nunavut reports 6.1 per cent.

"We're such a small fraction of the national population that it doesn't make a difference if
they are tough on us," he says, arguing that all of rural Nova Scotia, PEI and New Brunswick
"fits into a small corner of Scarborough."

"I'm convinced that the Conservatives are hiding a very, very deeply held view that people
should relocate to where jobs are and people who are frequent claimants of EI are somehow
deserving of punishment," says Dominic LeBlanc, the Liberal MP for Beausejour, a riding in
eastern New Brunswick.

Mr. Leblanc's suspicions were aroused earlier this week in Question Period, when Minister of
State for Finance Ted Menzies, in answering questions about the government's proposed changes,
noted there are 45,000 unemployed Nova Scotians and that 15,000 jobs will be created over the
next 30 years because of the recent $25-billion shipbuilding contract.

"What the government confirmed," charges Mr. LeBlanc, " ... is that somebody who is unemployed
in Yarmouth or Glace Bay will be expected to take an apartment in Halifax and move to Halifax
because they're lucky enough there to have a different economic situation."

For lobster fisherman Mr. Robicheau that's "laughable." "What skills do I [have]? Most of the
people in my harbour, it's the same thing, they're getting older now. I can't see a lot of
those fellows going into town and working for the Irving shipyard."



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