Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the decision to extend Employment Insurance benefits by up to 20 weeks in some regions but not others was based on "evidence,â but Edmontonâs top economist disagrees.
Trudeau told a crowd in Edmonton â a city whose workers wonât be eligible for the extra money -- that accusations from critics that the government is picking "winners and losers" are incorrect.
"On the contrary, we are applying cold hard mathematics," Trudeau said. "If there was politics brought into this we might have made other choices.â
"We are making decisions based on evidence and not on popularity or political convenience,â he said.
Laid-off cook Patricia Gray, 69, said Tuesday that it made no sense to her that corporate oil sector workers in Calgary will get extended benefits, while work camp employees based in Edmonton will not.
The City of Edmontonâs senior economist Jonathan Rose told CTVâs Power Play Wednesday that he sees the governmentâs cut-off for the extra benefits as more âarbitraryâ than evidence-based.
According to the budget, the regions that will be getting the expanded benefits are âthose where the unemployment rate increased by two percentage points or more for a sustained period between March 2015 and February 2016, compared to its lowest point between December 2014 and February 2015, without showing significant signs of recovery.â Edmonton just missed the cut-off.
Rose said the governmentâs approach has produced âanomalousâ results, with workers in places like Saskatoon and Whitehorse eligible, even though their unemployment rates are already lower than Edmontonâs.
Rose said he would have preferred âa more nuanced approachâ to doling out the extra money -- up to $13,452 per worker -- with a focus on specific sectors of the economy that have seen a sudden decline.
âIn the Edmonton region, we have a number of industries that have been hit very, very hard indeed,â he said, listing manufacturing, logistics and hospitality as examples. âOther parts of the economy are continuing to do reasonably well.â
Rose said that many of the people laid off in what he called âdistressed industriesâ will have a harder time than average finding new work, because they will be competing with many other unemployed people who have similar skills.
Although Trudeau promised on Tuesday to âmonitor and reviewâ economic conditions in various regions, Rose pointed out that the prime minister hasnât committed to a âtimely review.â
âUnfortunately, Edmontonâs unemployment rate is moving up and I wouldnât be terribly surprised to see us, in a month or two months, hit the criteria if you adjust the dates,â he said.
âMy concern is that while (Trudeau has) said they will review these results they havenât made it clear as to exactly when or what the impact would be,â he added. âWould we ultimately qualify or not?â
The 12 regions that will get extended EI are: Whitehorse, Nunavut, northern British Columbia, northern Manitoba, northern Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, northern Alberta, southern Alberta, northern Saskatchewan, Calgary, Saskatoon, and Sudbury, Ont.
EI claimants in these regions will soon be able to receive at least 50 weeks of benefits, up from 45 weeks. As well, âlong-tenured workersâ in these regions will see a boost from 50 weeks of benefits to as many as 70 weeks.
The one-year measure will start this July and extend retroactively to Jan. 4. 2015. A laid-off worker in any of the dozen regions identified will get up to $13,425 of extra income support, maxing out at $34,905, compared to $21,480 now.
Trudeau said Wednesday that the government has strengthened other parts of the EI program that will apply to all workers, like reducing the EI waiting period from two weeks to one week.
He also pointed to other government measures that will help middle class families, including the Canada Child Benefit and a middle-class tax cut.
"These are the kinds of things that will make a difference in the lives of everyone," Trudeau said.
Conservative MP Andrew Scheer told Power Play Tuesday that he thinks failure to extend benefits to areas like southern Saskatchewan and Edmonton region is âmean-spiritedâ and âvery cold-hearted.â
However, the Saskatchewan MP said âany change to EI doesnât change the fundamental problem ⌠that we have a government thatâs not promoting energy projects, thatâs not helping get our oil and gas to markets.â
âTheyâve blocked pipelines, theyâve refused to back the Energy East, theyâve killed the Northern Gateway pipeline,â Scheer said.
âThere isnât any amount of EI that will help get people back to work.â