EI changes will be reversed, vow P.E.I. Liberal candidates

The four Liberal candidates from P.E.I. gathered Tuesday afternoon to explain how their party would reverse changes to employment insurance.

Shortly after the Conservatives won their first majority government under Stephen Harper in 2011, the party started to make major changes to EI.

A pilot program offering extra weeks of benefits was discontinued. New rules were introduced requiring repeat claimants, like seasonal workers, to accept jobs paying as little as 70 per cent of their regular wages.

Today the Liberals reiterated a commitment to reverse those changes.

• Justin Trudeau promises sweeping reforms to employment insurance system

Standing outside a Summerside fish plant that relies on seasonal workers, the Liberal candidates — Bobby Morrissey (Egmont), Wayne Easter (Malpeque), Sean Casey (Charlottetown) and Lawrence MacAulay (Cardigan) — talked about how those workers have been affected by the changes.

"What I'm hearing on the doorstep is, I'm meeting a lot of people who see their EI benefits exhaust weeks, if not months, before their regular job starts. The bills don't stop coming when your EI benefits expire. And that has had a really negative impact on rural communities," said Morrissey.

From 2012 to 2015, total EI payments to Islanders were down by an average of $1.9 million a month, according to data from Statistics Canada. That's a drop of 13 per cent.

And while the number of unemployed Islanders dropped by five per cent over the same period, that accounts for just a portion of the decrease in payments. 

Despite the decline in the value of EI for Islanders, incumbent Gail Shea says it's not an issue she's hearing about on the doorstep.

"What is more of an issue in the campaign is probably the economy. People wanting jobs as opposed to wanting more EI. So, you know, that's what makes our economy go round," said Shea.

Meanwhile, the NDP are also promising to repeal the Conservative EI changes and to prevent future governments from using the EI surplus to try to balance their budgets, something both the Liberals and Conservatives have done in the past.

"That fund should be there to support workers in their time of need. Between jobs, while they're seeking new employment," said Egmont NDP candidate Herb Dickieson.

"That is there for the benefit of the workers. Not to be played with by Liberal and Conservative prime ministers."

The candidates challenging Shea in Egmont see EI as the area where the former cabinet minister is most vulnerable. And so they're pushing to make it the key issue of this campaign.