Feds hint at EI reforms to solve problem for low-income EI recipients

OTTAWA—Human Resources Minister Diane Finley is hinting the federal government may go back to the drawing board to fix problems with its Employment Insurance reforms.

“We are always working to ensure our programs fulfill our goals,” Finley said in the Commons Monday.

The government has been studying ways to improve a new wrinkle in its EI plan that critics say puts EI claimants who take part-time work at a disadvantage. And an announcement on possible changes is expected this week.

But under fire from opposition parties Monday, Finley would only say the Conservatives routinely review their policies to see if they can be better.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has been under mounting fire by the opposition parties for the new EI plan, which changes the amount of money recipients can earn in part-time work before Ottawa begins clawing back part of the workers’ wages.

It is believed the government realizes it made a mistake on this part of its EI reforms, which were introduced in the budget implementation bill last spring.

“What they’re really doing is attacking the unemployed,” NDP MP Chris Charlton said Monday. She said Finley’s claim that everyone who is on EI will be better off under the new rules is “categorically false.”

Under the new system, many EI claimants who work part-time are winding up with less money than under the old rules, a situation that critics say is unfair and a disincentive for the unemployed to supplement their income with part-time work.

The NDP is introducing a motion criticizing the government’s EI policies Monday.

Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Les Whittington