Conservatives vote against motion to protect Employment Insurance premiums

NDP Employment Insurance critic Robert Aubin (Trois-Rivières) made the following statement after the rejection of his motion:

“At a time when 4 out of 10 workers qualify for Employment Insurance when a job loss occurs, it is imperative that we restore the program’s capacity to provide the services it was created for.

That’s why New Democrats presented a motion calling on the government to protect worker and employer contributions from political interference in order to improve access to Employment Insurance.

Canadian workers pay into the Employment Insurance Program so that they can use it if they need it.

Unfortunately, successive Liberal and Conservative governments have taken approximately $57 billion out of the Employment Insurance Fund, depriving many workers of benefits they were entitled to.

Yesterday night, they refused to support the NDP commitment to establish a mechanism preventing the Government of Canada from using funds from the Employment Insurance Fund for purposes other than those set out in the Employment Insurance Act.

The NDP will continue to fight to protect Employment Insurance premiums so that workers and employees can benefit from them when they need them.”