EI reform: No more sitting around on pogey when there’s work to do

EI has become the Canadian name for garranteed income. Just another way for politicians to buy votes from the low income Canadains. It should be wiped out and replaced with retraining programs and relocation assistance programs that are available but must be repaid in the form of loans. If you pay for nothing you get nothing. It's pretty simple really.

I agree with Frank. I also think if you can work, and either don't want to or play the system, you should be cut off EI and moved to where the jobs are. I know lots of people who don't want jobs that are "Beneath their education or status". Well, they better do something to put food on the table. I for one do not like being the person who pays for these people to do nothing.

I support Frank's and Al-Man's comments 100%.

you 2 guys must of had the same job for the last 20 years and must love the harper agrnda.

To hell with pention reform . Now e.i reform hell lets just buy 35 billion more in jets

Well.......we've got Serge Blais pegged!!! At least if we buy the jets we have jets!!! Now it's costing us $20 billion a year, every year, for nothing. What a joke!!

Why not just get rid of EI?
The system is a joke and is funded by working people who find that it punishes them at the very time when they need it most.
Employer goes broke on you? EI leaves you without cash during the first couple weeks when you should be driving around to interviews and job scouting, making sure your clothing looks well for interviews etc, etc, etc.
When I was in University I witnessed the 'joy' of the EI experience as friends saw their savings trashed trying to use a system that deducted money from their paycheque under the guise of 'insurance'.
Get rid of it, get rid of Welfare, get rid of CPP and provide a system that guarantees Canadians a minimum weekly income regardless of reason. Though... that might result in the loss of thousands and thousands of bureaucrats jobs with savings yearly in the Billions range.

I love E.I. Your just jealous!

great commments, but i don't think EI is the issue. People have been abusing the system for ever, this isn't new. The real problem is the government has spent 15 billion dollars we don't have. When i hear excuses it frustrates the hell out of me. These stats suggesting that smokers cost the health care system, the unemployed now cost the system etc. has to stop. We the people need to stop allowing our governments to make excuses for over spending and creating fake stats to make the citizens believe everything is just fine.

While the media and the corporations made us all believe that the world was growing faster than our labour could handle, a big ponzi scheme was in the making, which has lead us into 15 billion dollars in debt. Have you not noticed how many new billionaires there has been in the last 10 years? Interesting that there are so many new millionaires, billionaires and almost trillionaires and almost every country is carrying a huge amount of debt - 15 billion or more just in Canada.

You would think after 1 billion the flags would have been raised and we would have tried to turn it around. Instead, stories were made up for the last decade to keep our minds off of what was really going on. I call it the diversion effect. I don't know about most of you, but 4 years ago everything was looking very good. Then the bailouts, which in my opinion, was another way to spend tax payers money with an accuse attached.

Now we all have to pay for it............and we blame everyone else but the people who got us into this mess.

For me it is very siimple. EI needs to be reformed in that if you collect you MUST work. Here is how I want it to work. A person milks the EI system sees the following chnages which they will not like.
First, you must work for at least 4 hours per day doing one of the follwoing jobs....
Cleaning public washrooms, Cleaning public parks, Emptying city garbages, cleaning the glass of the bus shelters, Soup kitchen/food bank servers, etc. But what about the other 4 hours per day? School, School and more school. If you fulfill that criteria, I will support paying you EI for up to 2 years, BUT there is also a catch. Everytime you re-file, you get 25% less in money and time. So being a freeloader has a diminishing return over time, BUT you still get support to help you escape the loop.

Seriously? EI reform? If you want to make a difference, forget EI and go after the welfare freeloaders. Yes EI is being milked no question, but EI benefits are available for only a short period of time and you have to have worked and qualify for said benefits. Welfare is another animal altogether. These young mothers have their cheques increase each time they spit out another kid! How long do we have to keep our heads in the sand before something is done?

Reform won't fix anything. For every rule and regulation there is always a loop hole, smart folks write the laws just as smart folks find the way to beat it. Just the way it is

RE: EI
The system is broken. I agree with most of the comments above, with the exception of the person who wrote that EI is only available for a short time. Really? 50+ weeks is available to people who claim EI. Thats disgusting. My wife fired a lazy worker, who claimed EI. She noticed on facebook that her former employee was bragging to her friends that she was still on her "paid" vacation. At our expense mind you. EI should be a stop gap solution for 6 weeks. Get to work lazy assed Canadians. I've worked all sorts of jobs, from bee keeper, waiter, lawn maintenance, and working in a fiber glass factory. No job beneath "my education". However said that the system should also have diminishing returns was right! Cheers to the hard working Canadians. Jeers to the lazy scum bags who (for a short while yet) are sucking of the proverbial tit.

Sorry Chipper, I meant that EI is available for a short time in comparison to welfare which people seem to stay on forever. To makes matters worse, their children see the mould and in some cases perpetuate the cycle. I know in a neighboring community to where we live, there is a family that has never worked a day. And by family I mean all ages, grandparents, parents, children...it's disgusting. They know exactly how to play the system and take advantage of every loophole.

Personally I am self employed and have been so for 20 years. I don't work, I don't get paid, that simple. What better motivator than that? I think we should be able to claim welfare recipients on our income tax as dependents, but hey, what do I know?

@Clem... "I think we should be able to claim welfare recipients on our income tax as dependents"... Hey, I love this idea! Makes sense to me. I think I will try it!