Title: Lorne Gunter: The scam we call 'Employment Insurance'
Category: Political
Posted By: 1Peg
Date: 2009-08-08 04:07:26
Canadian

   

As usual, Gunter turns an important issue into an us versus them argument...

   

That sort of happens when folks keep throwing around ultimations and coalition threats.

   

Not only that but he kicks it off with some real losers of arguments. "Employment insurance" is hardly a misnomer. We have auto insurance, not collision insurance; health insurance, not disease insurance; life insurance, not death insurance; and employment insurance to insure our employment. We insure the things we have. It is perfectly named.

Health insurance premiums, where and when they are charged, are not indexed to any risk factors, at least in this country. And there are bigger risk factors to one's continued employment than simply where one lives and works, notably what line of work you happen to be in. The only reason to single out region is to twist it into a partisan point.

   

It's a long time since it has been an "insurance" program. It started out that way - to insure against involuntary unemployment. But the Liberals decided to expand it to cover pregnancy, parental leave and sickness. It is now a social welfare program.

The variable entrance requirement was introduced in recognition of the fact that unemployment is higher in some regions than in others. But now, for political reasons, Dr I wants to "level" it and reduce it 360 hours across the board.

   

HARDLY!!

The benefits, eligiblity and duration have all been strictly reduced. Instead of creating a separate benefit for pregnancy/parental leave (the same thing) they were added into the existing UI/EI program as a 'cost saving' measure, not an extra social program. Now you can have a kid OR get sick OR lose your job, but you better not be unlucky enough to have any of those things happen too close to eachother or else EI will call you a socialist freeloader and tell you go screw yourself.