Earlier in the week it was reported that the Conservative government is proposing changes to EI, which will make it more difficult for people to get EI and once they do get it make it more difficult to keep receiving benefits. And in a particular case of nastiness they will make it really difficult for people who need EI more than once.
Today, in both the Ottawa Citizen and the National Post we see stories about how EI is damaging Canda, particularly in the Maritimes and Quebec.
Coincidence?
The government's proposed changes to EI and the defence of those changes by the two newspapers I mentioned is just typical of the conservative mindset.
For conservatives, people are not people, they are not even citizens. They are just economic entities moving within the economy and they are to be handled in such a way as to make that economy as efficient as possible. It would never occur to conservatives that those individuals who might not want to move from a high unemployment part of Canada to a lower unemployment part of Canada are people who have set down roots in their current communities. They have family and friends, their families have their own roots and to throw that all away to move to another part of the country would be difficult, emotionally and logistically. As well, many Canadians have bought into the conservative mantra that "jobs for life" no longer exist so they are hesitant to move because they may just have to do it all over again when the economic winds shift, as they always do.
Conservatives also realize that people are also voters and they can vote against them if they pursue polices people do not want or agree with. (The inconsiderate pricks, don't they know that conservatives and their corporate enablers have their best interests at heart.) Again the conservative mindset is not to think of voters as people but they think of them as political entities to be manipulated, hence today's stories trashing EI.
Today was just the opening salvo of the assault on EI and I am certain we will see more of it in the coming weeks and month. I will leave it up to others to discuss whether the Conservative government and their allies will succeed and whether they will suffer for it politically.
3 comments:
Many Thanks To You OTTLIB for possessing the stones to take these Greedy Fucks on, where they live.
While I do indeed find the smug and self righteous attitude of Harper's Crooked Crooks laughable, I am becoming even more concerned with the attitudes of OUR 20 & 30 somethings who spend their pedestrian time in downtown Toronto wandering along Texting & Unaware of their creating hazards for themselves & others. Last week a friend of mine was knocked-down & had his arm broken by a group of texting business professionals in the late 20’s – early 30’s … and of course you wonder WHAT’s Professional About This KLUTZ 24 / 7 mindset, as do I ??
Earlier today, I engaged a group of these Twits moaning about how that Harper Painting out of Kingston was in poor taste … DUHHH … while Real World Events Like Harper Having Stolen the last Election do not register … wandering in fogs of their own creation … Alas.
Please have a super Terrific Long Weekend OttLib !!
Employment Insurance is a distortion of the markets. The positive side is that it provides an economic buffer to keep famililes spending when jobs are terminated. On the negative side it taxes people and industries that consistently employ people to let seasonal industries warehouse employees and skills.
It should be adjusted so that people who repeatedly draw EI benefits pay higher premiums, as any other insurance scheme would. And firms that consistently lay off employees every year should also pay higher premiums.
Employment Insurance is a distortion of the markets. The positive side is that it provides an economic buffer to keep famililes spending when jobs are terminated. On the negative side it taxes people and industries that consistently employ people to let seasonal industries warehouse employees and skills.
It should be adjusted so that people who repeatedly draw EI benefits pay higher premiums, as any other insurance scheme would. And firms that consistently lay off employees every year should also pay higher premiums.
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