Obviously, repealing all of the 2012 changes would help seasonal workers, because almost every aspect of those changes is a tax on seasonal workers. You talked about the black hole that exists now in the Atlantic and a lot of seasonal areas. I want to say that seasonal work is also happening all across this country. It's actually in cities now. We're creating jobs in this country that are precarious, that are part time. Seasonal workers are everywhere, although they are predominantly in areas that depend on the weather; we can't pull potatoes out of the ground in January.
We also need to reverse the classifications of workers, the categories of workers, because that has actually enhanced the black hole. We lost the five weeks, but if you're a seasonal worker, and you've accessed EI a number of times, you actually lose benefit each and every year you go back to EI. Your black hole is increasing. Most certainly we need to repeal that.
As for working while on claim, apparently the budget will address the fact that people can actually opt back into the old working while on claim pilot. We're concerned that the eligibility requirements around that are still in place. We have to make sure that those eligibility requirements are removed so that people will actually be able to opt in.
I'll use the mussel industry as an example of a seasonal industry. There's one day of work per week through the winter season, because they can harvest mussels in the ice. It's not a week of work, it's one day a week. That's why the working while on claim in the old system for the seasonal industries is so very important.
The other part is the “best 14 weeks,” a pilot project that needs to be put back in. That was just basically deciding what the benefit was in the areas because of the precariousness of the work.
Again, I want to stress that I'm speaking from P.E.I.'s perspective, because that's where I come from. But this is a seasonal industry issue that goes straight across this country. It's in rural Quebec. It's in rural Ontario. It's in rural Manitoba. It's in rural Alberta. It's in rural B.C. It's everywhere. And it's in the urban areas as well.