Harper, who was in Summerside, P.E.I., for a funding announcement, said it’s false to claim that the new rules the Conservative government have introduced are harming people who can only find work for part of the year.
“Let me be very clear in terms of any misinformation, there is nothing, absolutely nothing in our changes that targets seasonal industries or seasonal workers or requires anybody to leave their region to get a job,” he said.
“We are simply making sure that when jobs are available that Islanders can fill them and when there is no work for Islanders in their region and they’ve paid into the fund, they will be eligible to receive.”
The changes have stoked protests in the region. Just two weeks ago, Atlantic Canada’s premiers asked Ottawa to suspend them, accusing the federal government of implementing the new measures without consultation.
The premiers have agreed to study the effects of the changes and present interim findings to the annual meeting of Canada’s premiers in July.
They plan to have the final results of their study complete by mid-fall.
The federal government has estimated that changes to EI will save the public treasury $12.5million this year and $33million next year.
Original Article
Source: thechronicleherald.ca
Author: MICHAEL TUTTON
No comments:
Post a Comment