It is not always easy for company owners, if they find themselves forced to lay off a highly skilled worker. They are always afraid that that worker might leave the area to go and work elsewhere, and that he will no longer be there when the business is able to start up again. In Level-sur-Quévillon, if the workers had been eligible for employment insurance when the lockout ended and the company finally shut down for good, many of them would have stayed. Indeed, the municipality tried very hard to get the company to start up again. However, all the other companies who were approached realized that most of the skilled Domtar workers had already left the municipality. In that isolated town, trying to bring back skilled workers once they have left is not an easy task. And, given what they had just been through, it was even more difficult. Had they received Employment Insurance benefits, most of those workers would probably have stayed behind and helped the municipality try to start up the company again. That is a strong economic argument.
On April 21st, 2010. See this statement in context.