Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a), section 54(w) of the Employment Insurance Act, the EI Act, specifies that the EI economic regions should be established based on geographical units established or used by Statistics Canada. As announced by the Minister of Employment and Social Development, the proposed EI economic region of Charlottetown would consist of the 2011 census agglomeration of Charlottetown defined by Statistics Canada, while the proposed non-capital EI economic region would consist of all remaining geographical units outside the census agglomeration of Charlottetown. With regard to (a)(i), Oyster Bed Bridge is located in census subdivision lot 24, which is not included in the 2011 census agglomeration of Charlottetown. With regard to (a)(ii), Toronto Road is located in census subdivision lot 23, which is located within the 2011 census agglomeration of Charlottetown.
With regard to (b), it is estimated that on an annual basis, there will be approximately $1million more in EI benefits available as a result of the proposed modifications to create capital and non-capital EI economic regions in PEI.
With regard to (c), EI eligibility and entitlement and the amount of benefits are generally based on the residence of claimants, not on the location of work.
It is not possible to predict what the monthly unemployment rates for the purpose of EI will be in each EI economic region. As the change will come into force on October 12, 2014, the unemployment rates for the two new EI economic regions will only be known at that time.
Eligibility for EI fishing benefits is based on insured earnings, unlike EI regular benefits, for which eligibility is based on insured hours. Fishers can generally qualify for fishing benefits with a minimum of between $2,500 and $4,200 in insured earnings from fishing, depending on the unemployment rate in their EI region. Entitlement to EI fishing benefits is not linked to the regional unemployment rate. Fish harvesters continue to receive up to 26 weeks of benefits within a period, depending on when they apply. The benefit rate is also calculated dependent on the regional unemployment rate for EI purposes through the divisor used to establish average weekly earnings from fishing earnings.