Harper & his Cons now coming after EI claimants

[Unknown]

It's not enough that this federal government - that likes to be called "the Harper
government" - has UNemployed hundreds of thousands of Canadians in just the last few months,
now they're going to make sure that those un-employed are faced with even more hurdles and
restrictions to survive.

Keep asking yourselves and your friends and neighbours: "Who the hell voted for this
government?"
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OTTAWA — As the Conservative government proposes major reforms to the employment insurance
system, new figures show Canadians made hundreds of thousands of fraudulent EI claims over the
past four years and received nearly $800 million in total overpayments.


While the federal government apparently recovered huge chunks of that cash, it also wrote off
during that time almost $125 million in overpayments it decided it had no chance of collecting
from Canadians.


The numbers have been released just as the Tories prepare sweeping changes to the employment
insurance system that will target repeat EI claimants and dictate what jobs Canadians receiving
benefits should be expected to take.


Figures tabled this week in the House of Commons reveal the large number of EI cheats in the
country and the cost to Canadian taxpayers, especially during the recent economic downturn.


However, the numbers also lay bare some of the challenges the Harper government faces in
reforming the current EI system.


Between the 2008-09 and 2011-12 fiscal years, the federal government paid out approximately
$787 million in employment insurance overpayments for nearly 956,000 cases.


An EI overpayment is a sum incorrectly issued on top of payments for specific weeks, and can
result from errors made by the worker, the employer or the government. Claimants are required
to pay back overpayments. Fraudulent claims can lead to financial penalties or prosecution.


Of those 956,000 overpayments over the past four years, nearly one-third (around 312,000 cases)
are considered "misrepresented" cases — where EI beneficiaries "knowingly" withheld
"information or misrepresent(ed) facts for the purposes of a false claim," according to the
federal government.


The remaining cases are considered "non-misrepresented" — the result of individuals making
honest mistakes while filling out forms or reports.

Atlantic Canada, which has a large number of seasonal workers and higher unemployment rates, is
home to around 2.3 million people, or less than seven per cent of the total Canadian population
of approximately 34.8 million.


However, the four Atlantic provinces — Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and
Newfoundland and Labrador — account for around 14 per cent of the fraudulent EI claims over the
four years.


Quebec, which is home to approximately 23 per cent of the Canadian population, accounted for
one-third of the reported false EI claims. Ontario, which has approximately 39 per cent of the
Canadian population, was home to about 32 per cent of the false claims.

The changes are expected to target repeat claimants, possibly by forcing them to take
lower-paying jobs.


Opposition parties, however, argue the EI overhaul is an "attack on Canadian workers" and will
unfairly hurt certain regions of the country that rely more on seasonal and contract employees.


"The government keeps pretending that employment insurance belongs to it, but we all know it
does not. EI belongs to workers," Allen said Friday in question period.


"Conservatives seem to think that being unemployed is an all-inclusive vacation."


The Conservative government is poised to define what is considered "suitable employment" that
Canadians should accept if they want to receive EI benefits. The government is promising,
though, that workers won't be expected to take jobs outside their skill sets or areas they call
home.



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We hang the petty thieves and elect the greatest ones to public office.