Recently, I’ve been hearing a lot of concern about a proposal in Parliament supported by the Bloc Québécois, Liberal Party, and NDP MPs to, among other things; create a 45-day work year through extremely generous Employment Insurance (EI) benefits.

This ‘plan’ would cost Canadians nearly $7 billion annually and increase premiums for employees and employers permanently by a whopping 35% – killing jobs and stopping our fragile economic recovery in its tracks.  Not to mention, working for 45 days and collecting EI for the rest of the year – the centerpiece of their plan – is irresponsible and downright offensive to hard-working Canadians.

Our Conservative Government has been the only voice in Parliament to unanimously oppose this completely reckless plan.  We voted against it because we understand the harm it would cause workers and businesses, both small and large.

But we’re doing more to help support jobs and stand up for Canada’s job-creators.

Recently, our Conservative Government announced major steps to limit future increases in employment insurance premiums.  These positive changes will support job creation by leaving more money in the hands of businesses and their employees. 

This comprehensive three-step plan will support the ongoing economic recovery and improve the employment insurance system.

First, our Government will stop the expected Canadian Employment Insurance Financing Board’s increase of 15 cents to EI premiums for 2011 by limiting the maximum increase to 5 cents per $100 of insurable earnings.  This will save employers and employees $1.2 billion in 2011 relative to a 15-cent increase.  It also means that the 2011 EI premium rate cannot exceed $1.78 per $100 of insurable earnings – at nearly the lowest levels in 30 years.

This is on top of the estimated $9.2B in relief provided by freezing EI premiums over the last two years when it was needed most.

Second, our Government will be limiting the maximum increase in premium rates for subsequent years to 10 cents per $100 of insurable earnings.  This will save employers and employees another $600 million per year in coming years relative to the current limit.

Our plan balances the genuine importance of preventing large EI rate increases, which would jeopardize our fragile economic recovery, and the unavoidable need to bring the EI account back to balance over time.
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And finally, our Government will launch consultations on ways to build on the improvements we have already introduced to the system. 

As you recall, our Conservative Government has already taken landmark action to take political interference out of the EI program.  As many of you know, the former Liberal Government exploited the contributions of workers and businesses to the EI program, blowing over $57 billion in surpluses in the EI Account for their own political schemes.  We have taken real action to guarantee EI premiums are only used to pay for the EI program, preventing future governments from setting rates artificially high in order to create a Liberal-style political slush fund.

With this solid foundation in place, our Government wants to hear from Canadians and businesses on how the EI rate setting mechanism can be even further improved to ensure more stable, predictable rates in the years ahead.  We will announce specific details on these consultations shortly, and I encourage all to get involved.

Brian Jean, MP
Fort McMurray - Athabasca