The EI program is a national program provides temporary income support for people when they lose their jobs. The program is operated nationally through a system of 62 regions, and the member asked specifically about two of those regions.
The regions are selected to ensure that the people who live in them face roughly similar labour market conditions. So, because EI is a legislated program and is statutorily determined, it's very, very difficult to change those parameters on the fly. The EI region system allows the labour market conditions to affect the eligibility of people who live in those regions.
I totally understand and accept that this can lead to situations such as are described by the member: where people living in relatively close proximity to each other face different treatment. The same situation would apply no matter where you chose to draw the line. I can tell you that the EI regions are reviewed every five years to ensure that they continue to represent relatively homogeneous labour market conditions. The current study is expected to be concluded by the end of this year.