Ask your candidate for improvements to Employment Insurance - May 2004
Canada is ruled by a federal liberal party that can run surpluses and pay for sponsorship waste with billions taken straight from the Unemployed through Paul Martin’s grabs from the Employment Insurance Fund.
Talk to your election candidate and demand that Employment Insurance Funds be used to aid the Unemployed.
Take action by using the campaign for better Employment Insurance web site
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info from the CLC is below
Benefits:
A basic 360 hours should be enough to qualify for EI, no matter where we live in Canada and no matter what type of benefits we need. This would replace the patchwork system of 420 to 910 hours that changes from place to place and month to month.Qualifying for EI should be flexible for those who have been in the labour force for a longer time. EI should look at more than the hours worked in the months before lay-off. It should count the years too.Workers over 45 years of age, the ones who have the hardest time getting a new job, should be guaranteed benefits for up to a year and a half.
Weekly benefits should be no lower than two-thirds (66.6%) of regular earnings, which would be defined as an average of the best twelve weeks of earnings.
Eliminate all clawbacks.
Training Insurance:
We think the time has come to extend the training benefits currently available to apprentices to everyone in the workforce, both employed and unemployed. Remaining employed and employable is becoming increasingly linked to a worker's ability to sharpen and expand their skills and knowledge.
Regular EI benefits should be available to cover hours of work lost while training and learning.
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No Vote is a Wasted Vote in Election 2004
By Gary Morton at http://CanadaElection.org
In federal elections people complain about major parties that look alike, and in every race the media marginalizes the smaller parties, giving them little coverage. A vote for anybody but the big guys is called a wasted vote.
But there is a reason for planting your vote on a smaller party. It may not win seats, but you could position it for a better run next time.
Federal political parties get $1.75 for every vote received in the previous federal election, and this means that a whole lot of people could vote Green or for the Marijuana Party just to give them a cash infusion. Your vote is not a wasted vote in that sense. You can vote for the future provided that the party can get 2% of the vote.
My vote used to be a choice for the better local candidate. I haven’t voted by party in the past, but might this time just to toss my couple of bucks to an upcoming party.
Who to choose? The Greens look bizarre, being led by Jim Harris. Harris used to be a management consultant, Tory and author. Maybe this party is looking more like the Bay Street Greens. I’ll have to take a deeper look. And I may be the only one looking … running against NDP Leader Jack Layton and flamboyant Liberal Dennis Mills in Toronto-Danforth is sure to leave Harris somewhere out of the news. He’s sort of like a little green Tory they step on before slugging it out with each other.
The Marijuana Party is always a safe bet. Toss a buck 75 towards legal pot and sleep easy, with the occasional nightmare of Harper's Tories being elected because of your wasted vote.
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