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Saturday, May 26, 2012

Thomas Walkom: EI changes driven by contempt and ideology (in The Toronto Star)

"The bone-headed ideology stems from the Conservative government’s primitive, Economics 101 view of the world.

"The contempt is that of comfortable, well-heeled politicians who, deep down, assume that those unfortunate enough to have lost their jobs lack moral fibre. ...

"Are cash-strapped farmers forced to bring in desperately poor workers from South America to harvest crops? Then the answer is not to reform the food system so that farmers — and farm labourers — can make a living wage. It is to make more Canadians so desperate that they will take be forced to take these Grapes of Wrath jobs. ...

"If you haven’t made it, you must be a slug. ...

"Former Conservative foreign affairs minister Lawrence Cannon, for instance, has no need of EI. He received a $78,866 taxpayer-paid severance package as a reward for being defeated in the last election.

"This month, Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave him a cushy job as Canada’s ambassador to France.

"Nor will Finley [Human Resources Minister Diane Finley] need EI. If she loses her MP job in the next election, she’ll be eligible for a lifetime, publicly funded pension entitlement of $1.8 million, according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. That’s on top of the roughly $2.5 in lifetime salary and pension her husband, Harper crony and Conservative Senator Doug Finley, is taking from the public purse.

"They’re doing fine. So why can’t you? You loser."

Full article: EI changes driven by contempt and ideology.