Buying us off

More proof that an election is imminent: the government has made it even easier for people in poor parts of the country - including rural Newfoundland - to collect Employment Insurance. That the Liberals need to gain seats in Atlantic Canada to make up for expected losses in Ontario is just a coincidence, I'm sure.

Fishermen became eligible for EI in the 1950s (thanks mainly to federal cabinet minister Jack Pickersgill, Joey Smallwood's lieutenant in Ottawa). The program was originally meant to help people who lost their jobs maintain their income until they found new work; in much of Newfoundland, however, it has become an expected source of income for fishermen and plant workers, who only work during the summer months. In some particularly depressed parts of the province, the provincial government uses temporary "make-work" projects - clearing brush from the side of the highway is popular - to get people working just long enough to become eligible for federal EI benefits. (If they didn't qualify, the province would be on the hook for paying social assistance, once known as "welfare".)

You don't have to be an economist to know this has created entire generations of Newfoundlanders hopelessly dependent on federal largesse. But what politician in his right mind would have the guts to speak out against it? Even the Conservatives are criticizing the suspicious timing of this announcement, but assure voters they have no problem with the changes themselves.

Actually, just by writing this, I'm assuring I'll never be elected down here.

Posted by damian at May 13, 2004 06:58 AM