Easter tried to table the document so its contents could be debated in Parliament and become public information.
He says recent changes to allowable part-time earnings while on EI has meant many Canadians are worse off financially than they were before, and this document supports his claim. That’s why he believes it was blocked.
“It’s a case of trying to prevent information coming forward,” Easter said Monday.
“The only information out there is basically what the minister had put out… a case where a person would do better under the changes, but that’s the exception, I think, to the rule.”
The issue stems from a new pilot project implemented this summer that sees 50 cents of every dollar earned by EI claimants working part-time clawed back by the feds.
Previously, people claiming EI could earn up to $75 a week or 40 per cent of their employment insurance, whichever was higher, without any clawback.
Human Resources Minister Diane Finley has said the changes would allow EI claimants to be better off and would offer an incentive to work more while on claim.
But Easter says his office has been flooded with calls from P.E.I. residents who say they are earning less under these new rules.
That’s why he tasked the non-partisan Parliamentary Information Research Service to compile a report, using examples he provided of people in his riding who explained their financial situations. The report compares how much they made under the old rules compared to how much they now take home under the new pilot project.
Easter says the examples he provided for analysis by the parliamentary researchers were ‘more typical of Atlantic Canada.’
In each of the examples, the claimants now make between $45 and $94 less weekly.
“The purpose here was to give some balance, that there are those who are doing worse and there are those who are doing better,” Easter said.
But tabling documents in Parliament requires unanimous consent of the House, and several Conservatives voted against this Monday.
Last week National Revenue Minister and P.E.I. MP Gail Shea said she too has been getting calls on this issue, but said some of them have been from individuals expressing support for the changes.
She explained that those negatively impacted by the changes are only people working less than two days a week. Those working three or four days benefit more from the new rules.
“The changes are actually an incentive to work more,” she said in a recent interview with The Guardian.
“The more work you do the more money you keep. The system was designed to be an incentive to work more on a part-time basis if part-time work is available.”
Easter is not giving up in trying to raise his concerns over these changes. He said the Liberals plan to call for an emergency debate on the issue.
Original Article
Source: theguardian.pe.ca
Author: Teresa Wright
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