Chamber Forum - Chamber Asks About Reforming EI To Discourage Repeat Usage

On Tuesday evening the Moose Jaw and District Chamber of Commerce held an all candidates forum where five of the six candidates showed up to give a short introduction and to answer questions from the Chamber and the on-line forum viewers.

To help voters make up their minds we are running the questions and the answers from the candidates to the questions put forward to them in that forum in no particular order.

The seventh question we feature originated from the Moose Jaw and District Chamber of Commerce and deals with the Employment Insurance (EI) system. EI is a totally employee/employer funded system which provides weekly payments based upon legitimate job losses.

Additionally, it is not well known, but the EI system has been utilized by local employers in agreements with Human Resources Development Canada to pay a portion of employee’s wages to prevent layoffs.

It is not just a system that takes in funds and gives them to employees upon job loss.

Question: Will your Party reform the Employment Insurance (EI) system to discourage repeat usage of the EI system and so to incur greater workforce mobility? If so what measures will Party take to achieve this?

Talon Regent, New Democratic Party candidate, said the premise of the question was incorrect and EI was an insurance policy to help workers who legitimately lost their jobs.

Regent said EI was an important element to help workers get back to work as they would not have to worry about paying for the essentials.

“I reject a large part of that question because it assumes people are abusing the EI system,” Regent said, adding “Employment Insurance is something that every worker pays into when they are working so when they are down on their luck or if their employer fires them without cause absolutely they should be able to receive the Employment Insurance that they were paying into,” Regent said.

“We need to make sure people have the opportunity to succeed. We need to make sure that after somebody loses their job for one reason or another they have the ability to find a new one,” he said.

“And to ensuring people have the ability to find a new one we need to give them the security that they can put food on their table, that they can pay their rent or their mortgage, that they can buy their medications. And if somebody can’t do that when they are transitioning from one job to another then their life will fall apart. They will fall through the cracks and it will be a constant struggle.”

“It will cost our economy more,” Regent said, adding “So once again we need to invest wisely as our government. Throwing money at a problem is not a solution. We need to look at what the wise investment is and the wise investment is investing in people.”

“This is what the New Democrats will do. As people are falling through the cracks as Conservative and Liberal governments New Democrats will help them out and ensure they have the opportunities o succeed.”

When we are talking about Employment Insurance we also have to talk about CERB (Canada Emergency Response Benefit). I know that a lot of Canadians, a lot of our community made use of CERB. And I want to remind Canadians that the NDP was the one that pushed the Liberals to ensure that Canadians were looked after,” Regent said.”

“We did not want billions of dollars given to the banks. We wanted the people looked after. That is what New Democrats can deliver for you.”

Fraser Tolmie, Conservative Party candidate, said CERB there was necessary but the way the Liberal government threw it together left the system open for abuse and are now many Canadians facing an unexpected tax bill because of it.

“When COVID - 19 first struck our economy was largely shutdown. It was appropriate that the federal government stepped in to provide support to Canadians that lost their jobs or most of their hours. That is why the Conservative Party worked with all Parties in the House of Commons to provide that urgently needed support,” Tolmie said.

“However the way that it was executed created so many predictable problems that Canadians are dealing with today. Many Canadians who believed they were eligible for CERB ended up finding out that they were not,” he said, adding “And only after receiving and spending money now there are Canadians who have a tax to worry about because the Liberal government decided CERB would not be tax deductible.”

“That for many of these people they still do not have meaningful jobs or opportunities. That’s why we need to repair our social safety net and close some of the gaps while unleashing the potential of Free Enterprise to create good paying job opportunities so that fewer Canadians require Employment Insurance in the first place.” he said.

“The Conservative Party will always support Canadians in times of crisis but we want prioritize job creation over this and create jobs for the future of Canadians in the future.”

Craig Townsend, Maverick Party candidate, said there were problems for EI and paying people to stay home increased inflation.

“Absolutely willing to pay your workforce to not work is a sure recipe for inflation,” Townsend said, adding “Payroll taxes are a huge burden for small and medium sized businesses and Ottawa has found it easy to take wealth from demographically insignificant ridings rather than refrain from spending taxpayer money.”

Chey Craik, People’s Party Of Canada (PPC) candidate said his Party had no plans to reform EI as it was there to protect workers.

Craik said there were problems with CERB because it had morphed into a form of Universal Income and workers were staying at home at a time when local employers are desperately trying to find workers.

“EI on its own is an insurance plan to protect workers. We are not to reform EI,” Craik said.

“CERB was created as an emergency response but it has become a form of Universal Basic Income. Canada cannot afford to continue to pay people to stay at home,” Craik said, adding “In our own riding the streets are lined with businesses crying out for workers. We need to allow Canadians to get back to work. People need to fill a sense of accomplishment from a job well done.”

“Canada needs to learn to live with COVID and allow people to get back to work and thereby eliminating the need for CERB.”

Katelyn Zimmer, Liberal Party candidate, said the Liberal government’s response to CERB was what was necessary to get money out to workers in need quickly. She rejected any thoughts large numbers of Canadians were unaware CERB was not tax free. She spoke about her personal experiences with CERB

Zimmer said already the Liberal government had recovered 92 percent of the jobs lost due to the pandemic and had plans to create a million more new jobs.

“I will answer this question based on my own experience with having to apply for EI at the beginning of COVID. I woke up one morning with a sore throat, I called my employer who told me that I had to phone Public Health,” Zimmer said, adding “I called Public Health and they said that I was not eligible for a COVID test I had to self isolate for 14 days.”

“I had to apply for EI and within 24 hours of applying for EI the Liberal Government had already transitioned it, my application into the Emergency Relief Benefit. And I think that they did an extraordinary job rolling out a program as quickly as possible to protect as many people as possible. It is unfortunate that a small percentage of people took advantage of that opportunity,” he said.

“But I think it was for the greater good because it benefitted people like me and others who needed it,” she said, adding “I would also like to point out that the money was not assumed, at least by myself, to be tax free. I viewed it as a paycheque.”

“That the Liberal government has already helped to recover 92 percent of jobs that were lost in the pandemic and have a plan to create a million more jobs moving forward.”