I’ll say it again. Canada does not need a national employment insurance standard.
Most especially, Canada does not need a national 360-hour standard for minimum eligibility. The fact that Michael Ignatieff and the liberal party are clinging to that like it’s some kind of life preserver is, well, typical of the Canadian liberal party of late. By that, I mean perhaps one of the most ridiculous sticking points to ever come out of an attempt by a minority government to make something work.
The conservative government has already refused that suggestion, more than once, but for reasons I fail to comprehend, Ignatieff won’t move from it. To his credit, he did say he would be more than willing to negotiate with prime minister Stephen Harper, and that his insistance on 360 hours is just a starting point–now he just has to negotiate, rather than dangle an election Canadians don’t want over his, and their, heads. Can he actually do that?
Rather than throw election threat after election threat in the face of the prime minister, why not, say, help him to actually extend employment insurance to people who aren’t, or who soon won’t be, getting it.
Unemployment insurance in the US is already being tossed about as in need of an extension to cover off the fact jobs are still being lost, and people are running out of money. But north of the border, they stick to the 360-hour minimum for eligibility. And if they don’t get it, they’ll try for a vote of non-confidence and kick this thing into election gear. It’s a rare thing indeed, but Canada’s liberals could stand to learn a thing or two from their US counterparts. And someone should really tell Michael Ignatieff negotiations don’t do a whole lot of working when your people don’t actually negotiate.
