OTTAWA — To hear Prime Minister Stephen Harper tell it, when it comes to the economy, blame others, because there's nothing to see here.

It seems that more and more Canadian families disagree.

Just this week, Harper was again quick to point the finger at others for economic troubles, calling on the G20 internationally to act so that he doesn't have to.

The same week, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said that while American families have reason to be concerned about their economic insecurity, Canadian families have nothing to worry about.

June 14, Charlottetown Guardian

For many Canadians, working life will end with a sudden drop through our social safety net into an old age of crushing poverty. The majority have no workplace pension, and one in three Canadians will retire with no savings at all. Public pensions should be a life-saving cushion, but the maximum Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefit is only $11,000.

Dear Mr. Speaker:

I write to you today to inform you of my request to hold an emergency debate on recent advice given by the Prime Minister to Her Excellency, the Governor General, requesting that the second session of the 40th parliament be prorogued. I do not make this request out of any question of the role of Her Excellency, but rather because I believe the judgement of the Prime Minister in offering such advice was deeply flawed.

Late on the cold, snowy night of January 4, 1996, my wife Olivia Chow and I, both city councillors at the time, were walking up Spadina Ave. As we walked, we checked on the well-being of the homeless we passed and discussed the problem of poverty in Toronto.

The next morning I woke to learn that a homeless man, Eugene Upper, had frozen to death that night on the opposite side of Spadina from where we’d walked. Since that day, I have redoubled my efforts to prevent homelessness and eliminate poverty.

Many of us pay into Employment Insurance for years. Most of us rarely give it a second thought, but when we do, it's a comforting one. We think EI will be there when we need it. But the truth is that Employment Insurance is failing the middle class.

Unfair eligibility rules, insufficient benefits and the two-week waiting period are making things tough for many of the 300,000 Canadians thrown out of work since the last federal election. As few as 40 per cent of workers, and just three in 10 women, qualify for EI. Many miss out even if they've been paying in for years.