Impacts of Employment Insurance Cuts
Here’s the link to a major empirical study on the impacts of the Liberal cuts to the Employment Insurance program, with a specific emphasis on impacts on women workers. The study is by Monica Townson and Kevin Hayes and was commissioned by Status of Women Canada , and quietly posted to their web site a couple of weeks ago.
The Hayes-Townson report is excellent. A correction is required however, in that the creation of the UI program in Canada should not be attributed to the Rowell-Sirois Commission. The UI program had been under consideration well before the creation of the Rowell-Sirois Commission in 1937, UI legislation having actually been adopted in 1935 before being found ultra vires. That situation gave rise to a constitutional amendment in 1940, and was not the result of Rowell-Sirois. Furthermore, Mackenzie King specifically rejected Rowell-Sirois’ recommendation that the federal goverment take over responsibility for all “unemployed employables”, preferring to limit himself to unemployment insurance (thus excluding the notion of unemployment assistance). These facts are significant in that they support the insurance character of UI in Canada.
Curiously the report can no longer be accessed.
The CCPA published a short version whcih can be found on their web site