Tories outline EI changes amid Liberals' election threat

The federal government revealed changes to unemployment benefits on Monday that stopped short of the sweeping EI reforms demanded by opposition parties, in a move that could bring down the minority Conservative government and trigger another election.

The proposed changes, outlined by Human Resources Minister Diane Finley in Oshawa, Ont., include a $500-million program for retraining laid-off, long-tenured workers and an extension of EI benefits if applicants participate in longer-term training of up to two years.

Speaking from a training college in a community beset by job losses from the decaying manufacturing sector, Finley said the changes will help an estimated 40,000 Canadians learn new skills to find work in a different field.

Another initiative will help between 5,000 and 10,000 people by providing EI benefits sooner to eligible workers who spend all or part of their severance package on training themselves for another job, Finley said.

"This is an opportunity for people to take this time — people who are unfortunate enough to lose their jobs — to get the skills, to get the training so they'll have long-term jobs for the future," Finley said.

The minister's announcement was immediately decried by the Liberals and NDP as a "rehash" of funds already included in the Conservatives' January budget.

While political analysts have raised doubts about a summer trip to the polls in the midst of a recession, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has threatened to push for an election if Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority government doesn't support his party's proposals on EI reform.

The latest federal budget included an extra five weeks of EI benefits for recipients. But Ignatieff has called for an immediate, temporary change that would make people eligible for EI benefits if they've worked 360 hours in the previous 52 weeks — regardless of where they live.

The current EI benefit qualification threshold varies across the country from 420 to 910 hours, depending on how high the local jobless rate is.

During Monday's question period, Ignatieff said expanding EI eligibility would provide "effective, immediate and targeted stimulus" during the current recession and would be spent before the government’s infrastructure programs "even begin to kick in."

"The government can do this without raising payroll taxes, they can do it without raising benefit levels or duration," Ignatieff said. "So why won’t the government make EI work?"

Speaking for the government, Transport Minister John Baird insisted the Liberals' proposals would require a payroll tax increase, which is "the last thing that our economy needs."

"What the leader of the Liberal party has to do is to come clean and admit that his only plan for the unemployed is to raise taxes which will kill jobs, especially for small businesses," Baird said.

"That's what Canadians don’t want, a job-killing payroll tax increase."

The Liberals would require the support of the two other opposition parties to defeat the government in a no-confidence in the House of Commons and force the second election in a year.

Recent opinion polls suggest support for the Liberals under Ignatieff's leadership has increased, especially in the battleground province of Quebec.

But there is fierce debate over whether the EI issue will galvanize the public in a summer election campaign so soon after last fall's federal vote, which handed the Liberals the worst result in terms of popular vote in more than 100 years.

The Tories' Finley said it is important not to focus on partisan politics right now, despite her party's recent launch of attack ads against the Liberal leader. 

"Let us keep moving to get the economic stimulus out there to create programs like this," Finley told reporters.

"We don't need another election right now."

EI eligibility Liberal 'mess' from 1990s: NDP

The NDP and Bloc Québécois have called for the EI eligibility threshold to be expanded permanently, not just for as long as the current recession lasts. NDP Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe also called for the elimination of the two-week benefit waiting period and for self-employed workers to have access to benefits.

During Monday's question period, Layton said the government was simply re-announcing budget funds and "has decided to give no hope to the people who were excluded from the system."

"There's nothing new here," he said.

NDP human resources critic Yvon Godin said the Liberals were responsible for cutting the EI eligibility during the collapse of the fisheries in Atlantic provinces during the mid-1990s.

"Today they want to be the saviour of the EI, which is a mess that they put people in," Godin told CBC News.

While he did not say whether his party would support the Liberals in a no-confidence vote, Godin did not rule it out.

"We’re never worried to go into an election and go to Canadians," he said. "If it’s something good for the workers, we’ll do what needs to be done."

Over the weekend, the prime minister labelled Ignatieff's proposal an "absurdity" that would allow Canadians to collect benefits for up to a year after only working a period of 45 days.

But at a provincial Liberal campaign event in Nova Scotia on Sunday, Ignatieff fired back, saying Harper was trying to mislead Canadians over the Liberal proposal and "takes the people who are in work and plays them against the people who are out of work."

The NDP's Layton accused the prime minister on the weekend of showing old Reform party attitudes and "blaming the victim" by suggesting EI benefits are generous and people are looking to exploit the system.