In fact, there were other employment options.
In the fishing sector, a number of businesses in the southern part of the province are open year-round. These people found ways to diversify so they could keep their employees longer. Since the employment insurance program was used to keep jobs in the northern part of the province and since there weren't many other job opportunities, the business did not have to diversify. So the program has had a negative impact on businesses and workers.
I agree with you when you say that making changes quickly to the program had a huge impact. We have seen this quite recently. Businesses were not ready for that. When a program is used over the years to support a seasonal industry, the rules cannot be changed overnight. Businesses can't adapt to changes like this and neither can workers.