The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) Report on Employment Insurance (EI)

Today the CLC proposed changes to EI that -- by its own admission -- would cost Canadian tax payers $5-$6 billion a year.

That's a hefty price that Canadians cannot afford to pay.

The CLC alleges that EI is no longer there for unemployed Canadians who need it. But the facts say otherwise.

The first annual EI Monitoring and Assessment Report showed that EI continues to be an effective insurance policy for Canadians who work and pay into the plan on a regular basis.

In fact, 78% of the unemployed who lost their job or who quit with just cause last year were eligible for benefits.

Many of the people the CLC points to as not being covered were -- in fact -- never intended to be covered by EI:

• job seekers new to the work force;
• those who have only worked for a few weeks;
• the self-employed;
• the long-term unemployed.

Many of these individuals are being assisted through a range of programs and initiatives:

• Reinvestment of $800 million into active re-employment benefits and measures -- aimed at helping people get the skills they need to re-enter the workforce;
• Renewal of our highly successful Youth Employment Strategy - with a 50% increase in ongoing funding -- $465 million over the next three years alone;
• And the launch of our $110 million a year Canada Jobs Fund, which will help spur job creation in regions of high unemployment.

Let's be clear, our number one priority is to get unemployed Canadians back to work. That's what EI reform has been about. And that is what our whole Jobs and Growth Strategy is about.

Our record speaks for itself. The unemployment rate has fallen to 8% - its lowest level in more than eight years! And an almost 3.5% decline from the 11.4% rate we inherited just after we took office in October 1993.

449,000 new jobs were created in 1998 - the best annual job creation performance so far this decade. And more than 1.5 million new jobs have been created since October 1993!