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Temporary EI measures set to expire with no timeline for program reform

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OTTAWA — Workers applying for employment insurance benefits will have to qualify based on pre-pandemic rules starting Sunday, when temporary measures are set to expire.

The Liberal government has pledged to reform EI and address gaps in the program, but temporary measures that were put in place during the pandemic will expire before any reform is implemented.

Labour advocates as well as NDP and Bloc Québécois members of Parliament have been calling on the federal government to extend the temporary measures, which expanded access to more workers.

During question period in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Bloc Québécois MP Louise Chabot asked Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough to extend the measures until a full reform of the program is implemented.

“The minister received a mandate to implement a full reform of EI this summer but she didn’t do it,” said Chabot. “Will the minister at least extend the temporary measures?”

In response, Qualtrough said the temporary changes made to EI were pandemic-related measures and were no longer necessary.

“I can assure (Chabot) and everyone that by the end of the year, you’ll know what the vision for EI is,” Qualtrough said.

Under the temporary measures, workers qualify for EI based on a national requirement of having 420 insurable employment hours, whereas workers would normally need between 420 and 700 hours depending on the regional unemployment rate.

Many experts support moving toward a national requirement and say variable requirements are unfair to workers who are laid off in a region with a low unemployment rate.

Additionally, under the temporary measures, pay received on separation from a job, such as severance, is not deducted from benefits.

On Thursday, the National Council of Unemployed Workers held a joint news conference with Chabot, NDP deputy leader Alexandre Boulerice and other labour leaders on Parliament Hill about the expiration of the measures.

Qualtrough met with the labour leaders on Thursday and promised to extend EI sickness benefits from 15 to 26 weeks by the end of the year, a change that was promised in the 2022 budget.

Milan Bernard, an organizational adviser with the National Council of Unemployed Workers, said Qualtrough expressed commitment to reforming EI but no timeline.

“We don’t really know what’s going to happen,” said Bernard.

Experts and advocates say EI reform has been needed for years, however, it was the COVID-19 pandemic that magnified gaps in the program.

Faced with a major disruption to the economy at the onset of the pandemic, EI couldn’t deliver benefits to the staggering number of people who suddenly found themselves out of work as lockdowns came into place.

In a report published in August 2020, Jennifer Robson, a Carleton University associate professor of political management, found EI failed to cover enough Canadians while also failing on the administrative and technological front.

The shortcomings led the federal government to introduce the Canada Emergency Response Benefit to provide quick relief to Canadians.

In 2021, the Liberals campaigned on a promise to modernize EI and pledged to expand the program to cover self-employed workers and address gaps, including those highlighted by the COVID-19.

Qualtrough’s mandate letter from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked the minister to “bring forward and begin implementing a plan to modernize the EI system for the 21st century” by summer 2022.

Employment and Social Development Canada concluded its last round of public consultations on EI reform in July. However, there are no details about when legislation on EI reform will be presented.

The list of complaints about the current structure of the program is a long one, from eligibility requirements to financing to administrative technology.

A central concern of labour advocates and experts is that too few can access the program.

According to a Statistics Canada report published in 1998, the proportion of unemployed Canadians receiving EI benefits peaked at 74 per cent in 1989. That number sharply declined in the years after, partly because of reforms made to the program in the 1990s.

While the temporary changes expanded access to EI, before the pandemic, about 40 per cent of unemployed Canadians received employment insurance.

Unifor president Lana Payne, who has been advocating for the temporary measures to be extended, said “we can’t go back to a broken system.”

“(If) we revert back to pre-COVID requirements, you’re going to have a lot of people who potentially will fall through the cracks,” said Payne.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2022.

 

Nojoud Al Mallees, The Canadian Press

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Canada’s Denis Shapovalov wins Belgrade Open for his second ATP Tour title

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BELGRADE, Serbia – Canada’s Denis Shapovalov is back in the winner’s circle.

The 25-year-old Shapovalov beat Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic 6-4, 6-4 in the Belgrade Open final on Saturday.

It’s Shapovalov’s second ATP Tour title after winning the Stockholm Open in 2019. He is the first Canadian to win an ATP Tour-level title this season.

His last appearance in a tournament final was in Vienna in 2022.

Shapovalov missed the second half of last season due to injury and spent most of this year regaining his best level of play.

He came through qualifying in Belgrade and dropped just one set on his way to winning the trophy.

Shapovalov’s best results this season were at ATP 500 events in Washington and Basel, where he reached the quarterfinals.

Medjedovic was playing in his first-ever ATP Tour final.

The 21-year-old, who won the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF title last year, ends 2024 holding a 9-8 tour-level record on the season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Talks to resume in B.C. port dispute in bid to end multi-day lockout

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VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.

The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.

The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.

The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.

The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.

MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.

In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.

“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.

“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”

In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.

“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.

The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.

“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”

The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.

The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.

A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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The Royal Canadian Legion turns to Amazon for annual poppy campaign boost

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The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.

Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.

Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.

Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.

“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.

“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”

Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.

“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.

Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.

“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”

But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.

Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.

“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.

Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.

The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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