It did. It allowed small business owners to receive a bit of a break during a time when the economy wasn't doing very well and they were just trying to get out of the recession. We have research that shows small business owners, in times of economic distress, are the first to hire, the last to fire. Many of our members didn't pay themselves during the recession in order to keep their employees. Giving them the EI hiring credit allowed them to keep those employees or to keep up with inflation and give small increases in their salaries, and to maintain the workforce they had.
On November 25th, 2013. See this statement in context.