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Employment Insurance (EI) Must Help More Workers

EI is the most important income security program for workers faced with unemployment, but current eligibility criteria allow only 40% of male workers to qualify for benefits in the face of unemployment. This number decreases to 32% for unemployed women.

Having access to EI ensures that families can avoid falling into poverty while they seek employment that matches their skills or have the opportunity to receive valuable training which will improve their employment opportunities.

It is time for the federal government to use the accumulated surplus in the EI fund which reaches over $50 billion on the workers who need it the most, particularly as we head into a period of economic insecurity.

Eligibility requirements should be restored to 360 hours, with benefit levels based on the best 12 weeks of earnings at 60% of earnings as a minimum.

Family Security in Insecure Times: The Case for a Poverty Reduction Strategy for Canada, 2008 Report Card

Support the Report - Help make a break-through on poverty in Canada

An all party committee of parliament has just put forward a report that could change the face of poverty in Canada. The report calls for the federal government to immediately commit to a federal action plan to reduce poverty in Canada. Make Poverty History & Campaign 2000 contributed and pushed for this report, now we must make its recommendations a reality.

Send a message now to Diane Finley, the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development urging her to respond positively to the recommendations in the report. Ask her to commit to developing a poverty reduction plan.

The report, Federal Poverty Reduction Plan: Working in Partnership Towards Reducing Poverty in Canada, is the result of an extensive three-year study on the federal role in addressing poverty by the Parliamentary Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development (HUMA). They support the key goals of the Dignity for All campaign as well as many Campaign 2000 recommendations with the conclusion that the federal government immediately commit to a federal action plan to reduce poverty in Canada, including:

Raising the Canada Child Tax Benefit and supplement to $5000 within 5 years;
A long-term national housing and homelessness strategy;
Measures to help the most vulnerable – a refundable Disability Tax Credit, easing EI qualifications, increasing adult literacy, increasing and indexing GIS for seniors, implementing an early learning and child care strategy; and
Major help for Aboriginal People for housing, education and social services, including elimination of the two per cent cap on federal funding.

Recently, the government has ignored recommendations from similar reports on Poverty from the Senate. Don’t let this happen again. We can’t let this excellent parliamentary report just be ignored and sit on a shelf to gather dust. It was the result of extensive public hearings in a number of communities across Canada – something that action by Make Poverty History & Campaign 2000 supporters helped to make happen. Members of Parliament listened to people living in poverty and have responded to what they heard with very positive and thoughtful recommendations, which if adopted would help to make poverty history in Canada.

Send a message now to the government that we need immediate action to end poverty in Canada. And send a copy of your message to your Member of Parliament asking her/him to support the recommendations in the HUMA Report. You'll find your MP's e-mail address here: http://www.ontariotenants.ca/government/mpp.phtml

And if you haven’t done so yet, visit www.dignityforall.ca and sign up your support to the Make Poverty History sponsored movement to end poverty in Canada.

Thank you,

Dennis Howlett & Laurel Rothman
Make Poverty History & Campaign 2000

Fill out the form below to send a message to Minister Diane Finley. You can add to the message or replace it with your own words. Please make sure that you scroll down to the bottom to sign the message with your name before submitting it.