Thank you, Wayne.
It's a pleasure to present to you again. Welcome to P.E.I. My name is Lori MacKay.
I'm also the chair of the PEI Coalition for a Fair EI, so employment insurance is the topic I want to talk about again.
As I've commented before, the last federal budget has taken a few small steps toward reversing the negative impacts of the devastating 2012 changes to the EI system, but fell well short of the election promises of this government. We are hopeful that the next budget will finally reverse all the changes that were so devastating to this region and many others across the country.
For the PEI Coalition for a Fair EI, the number one priority is to see the additional EI zones reversed. As I explained to this committee in May, P.E.I. was always one economic zone for a reason. The Island is too small, and there is not one major industry that's in one particular area of the province. Fishing, farming, and tourism are spread throughout the Island. Federal jobs are located in both cities. The two largest private sector employers in Prince Edward Island are in the rural zones. It is imperative that our Island be reverted to one zone, because it is the fairest approach to EI benefits for Prince Edward Island.
As the chair and I explained through examples the last time, co-workers are working side by side and living close to one another, but have substantially different EI benefits. The number one ask for the budget from the coalition is to revert the EI to one zone.
There are other key priorities that we'd like you to address.
Restore the additional five-week benefit extension for high unemployment areas. There are a lot of continuous high unemployment areas in P.E.I. Many of them around the country have a lot of precarious but important work that still needs to be done, and workers need the knowledge that they can get from one season to another, or they're going to make different choices, and that is going to create labour shortages in many important industries in P.E.I.
Restore the “best 14 weeks” pilot project and make it permanent. This is the best way to calculate benefits for workers who have sporadic work patterns. Again, for areas of the country with seasonal work, sporadic work patterns are the norm..
Eliminate the classes of workers. This 2012 change perpetuated an unfair assumption about workers in the seasonal industries across the country.
Re-establish the local EI processing centres and the three-party juror system so that unemployed workers get the services they deserve.
Reverse the decision to allow cabinet to make adjustments to EI without the approval of Parliament and implement a wall of protection so that EI funds are for EI purposes only and not used to balance the federal budget.
Probably one of the most important areas you need to consider as a committee is the planned reduction of EI premiums. Yes, the economic sustainability of our country relies on a healthy EI system. It is necessary for our capitalist economy to continue doing that. The money that has been accumulated in the fund recently was on the backs of the seasonal/precarious workers in this country. Instead of recognizing the challenges, with an ineffective job strategy the government of the day targeted seasonal workers.
Our ask: reverse all changes implemented in 2012, stop premium reductions, and create a job strategy that works for all regions in the country so that we reduce our need for the EI system. But to be clear, we will need an EI system in a capitalist economy.
Thank you.