So Erin talked about falling EI benefits last month, which got me thinking about the longer term trend here. Comparing seasonally unadjusted data for the last five Aprils, we see a steady decline in the proportion of unemployed workers that are receiving EI. Since April 2009, unemployment in Canada has
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Accidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Mark Gongloff reaches the unsurprising conclusion that a tax system warped to favour the interests of the wealthy leads to greater inequality (but not the promised growth): Slashing top tax rates has had none of the positive effects on economic growth that the
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Falling EI Benefits Amid Rising Unemployment
Statistics Canada reported today that 5,200 fewer Canadians received Employment Insurance (EI) benefits in March, even though 6,800 more Canadians filed EI claims. The Labour Force Survey indicates that 42,100 more Canadians were unemployed in March. In other words, the federal government provided benefits to fewer workers despite a spike
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Duncan Cameron is the latest to weigh in on the Cons’ distorted sense of priorities in directing public research money toward private profits: Publicly available research is important. Since no one knows where discoveries or advances in knowledge will lead, the entire
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Business journalists go on the attack; demonize Atlantic seasonal workers
The following is a guest post by Nick Fillmore. National business journalists and columnists have bought into Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s demeaning view that folks in the Atlantic region are backward and have a defeatist attitude. Framed in contemptuous language, they’re promoting untested economic ideas that, if adopted, would seriously
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Fact-Busting HRSDC’s “Just the Facts” on EI Changes
Attempts by the Harper Government to set the record straight over recent changes to EI simply gloss over many valid concerns that have been expressed by critics. I share a couple of EI Change Fact-Busters in solidarity with upcoming rallys on EI that will be taking place across Canada this weekend.
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: A Weak Week for Canada’s Economy
On Tuesday, Statistics Canada reported that job vacancies have fallen to the lowest level recorded since it began collecting these figures two years ago. On Wednesday, the Bank of Canada projected growth of just 1.5% for this year. On Thursday, Statistics Canada reported that the number of Canadians receiving Employment Insurance
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: EI and CPP Appeals consolidation begins
Regulations guiding the new Social Security Tribunal came into force April 1st, 2013, and are available online at the Canada Gazette. The SST combines the first and second level of client appeals for CPP, OAS, and EI into one tribunal. HRSDC expects that the changes will result in $25 million
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: #mtlqc13 – Day 1 Review
Based on my posts leading up to the NDP’s federal convention, it shouldn’t come as much surprise that my main focus is on the substantive policy debates. And the first day saw some positive developments on that front. Rather than sticking to the party’s chosen list of topics for discussion,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Evening Links
Assorted content to end your day. – Carol Goar discusses how the Cons’ latest attacks on Employment Insurance add just one burden to the backs of workers who have already borne the brunt of decades of corporatist policy: (L)ast Sunday, employment insurance benefits in two-thirds of the country were quietly
Continue readingRandom Ranting Raving and Ratings: The Trouble with Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program
Many feel bad for the Royal Bank Employees being replaced by temporary foreign workers however they are only the latest example of what is wrong with the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in Canada.
Canada’s Foreign worker program has been&nbs…
Random Ranting Raving and Ratings: The Trouble with Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program
Many feel bad for the Royal Bank Employees being replaced by temporary foreign workers however they are only the latest example of what is wrong with the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in Canada. Canada’s Foreign worker program has been criticized greatly by the NDP for its… ..
Continue readingRandom Ranting Raving and Ratings: The Trouble with Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program
Many feel bad for the Royal Bank Employees being replaced by temporary foreign workers however they are only the latest example of what is wrong with the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in Canada. Canada’s Foreign worker program has been criticized greatly by the NDP for its… ..
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Tanya Gold discusses how the UK Cons – like other right-wing parties around the globe – are seeking to minimize the effectiveness of government by declaring that anybody who can benefit from social support is inherently undeserving: How many benefits have been unfairly
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Public Interest Alberta takes a closer look at that province’s rhetoric about taxes, and finds that in fact most Albertans pay more income tax than they would under the more fair and progressive systems applied in other province: “Albertans who believe the myth
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Harper Conservatives must back track on Employment Insurance changes
By: Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union | (Press Release) | Mar 2, 2013: OTTAWA – Changes to Employment Insurance (EI) affecting thousands of seasonal workers and their communities must be overturned, says the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP). Further to the harmful changes, the government began making unannounced house visits to EI
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
This and that to end your Saturday. – Bill Curry breaks the news of the Cons’ next round of public service slashing – with Canada Revenue Agency employees whose work far more than pays for itself once more looming as one of the main targets of a government determined to
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Diane Finley’s Hideous War on the Poor
She has always been one of the most brutish Cons.A hardline right-wing ideologue who would wage war on Canada's poorest and most vulnerable citizens.And have the unmitigated gall to deny it.Last month she claimed that EI inspectors didn't have quotas for uncovering fraud that they were expected to discover. Only to
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: EI: It’s all in the details
What not to say in an interview if you’re on EI, and other nightmares The latest detail to emerge about the recent changes to EI is from the Digest of Benefit Entitlement Principles. The Digest is a guide to enforcing Employment Insurance, with definitions of key terms, and elaborates on
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Getting the Facts Straight on EI Changes
In a guest post at the Broadbent Institute, I flesh out some of the impacts of EI changes with three (fairly typical) hypothetical stories of unemployed Canadians. There are certainly more extreme consequences felt by some already. At least these folks have access to the Board of Referees. Many fear
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