Thursday February 6, 2025 | NATIONAL [Covered from Victoria, BC] | Updated February 7, 2025
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said in Montreal today that Canada’s Employment Insurance (EI) program needs a major rehaul.
He says that 6-% of workers in Canada cannot access the income safety net that EI was originally intended to be.
“EI is inadequate for the modern day,” said Singh. “It is difficult to access,” he told media.
Canada’s Employment Insurance program was always intended to replace income (to varying degrees) for workers in the corporate mainstream workplace.
If people are unemployed they become part of the workforce that is labelled “unemployed” and are presumed to be able to find new employment within a reasonable period of time. That still doesn’t cover people who are never ’employed’ in the traditional sense. If they lose their source of income there is no safety net for them.
It’s actually surprising that this issue hasn’t been discussed and dealt with by government for decades (either Conservative or Liberal). instead, people have just been allowed to fall behind or worse — between the cracks to a point where they can’t get back into meaningful employment.
Canada’s employment insurance system dates back to the 1940 creation of the Unemployment Insurance Commission, the precursor of the current Canada EI Commission.
The system is designed around pay-in, pay-out; if a working Canadian doesn’t pay into EI on each paycheque they are currently operating outside the scope of worker support in this country.
Today there is such a wide range of ways that people are employed or earn an income, including part-time, casual, gig work and self employment.
“The amount is insufficient to meet the needs of workers,” said Singh, in a mindset that is reminiscent of how the NDP pushed for the CERB support payments during COVID to be set at a level that would help keep most people whole during a time of economic shutdown.
Self employed people have been particularly short-changed over the years, including not having access to maternity leave in decades gone by.
Singh made his EI commentary in the context of how the Canadian economy should be bolstered in the face of relatively sudden significant economic threat from the United States.
Buy Canadian helps workers:
Singh also supports the ‘buy Canadian’ approach that seems to have caught on across the country in all levels of government and throughout most of the general population.
“We need to build more of the things that we need, in our own country,” said Singh today.
Procurement should be guided toward Canadian jobs and Canadian businesses, Singh said today. This would “turn purchasing power toward Canadian jobs”.
Business leaders:
It’s unclear whether Canadian business leaders feel any incentive to change this significant shortfall in supporting workers in this country.
Election looming:
Parliament is prorogued until March 24.
The NDP (as well as the Conservatives and the Bloc Quebecois) have vowed to bring in a non-confidence vote at the earliest opportunity, to bring down the current Liberal government and launch Canada into an election.
===== RELATED:
NEWS SECTIONS: BUSINESS & ECONOMY | CANADIAN ELECTION 2025