Harper cuts EI staff, leaving jobless in the lurch

Carol Goar, Opinion, The Toronto Star:

An applicant who provides all the information required by Service Canada is supposed to get his or her first benefit payment within 28 days. But thousands of laid-off workers say they’ve been waiting months.

It’s impossible to get though to Service Canada; the phone lines are jammed. It takes hours to get an appointment with a claims officer when they go to the office in person. And when their turn finally comes, they’re often told their claim is “spooling” or “churning” in the computer and won’t be retrievable for three weeks.

Why is the federal agency failing to keep its part of the bargain?

Here is Human Resources Minister Diane Finley’s answer: “Service Canada continues to carefully monitor EI processing to ensure the best possible service is provided to Canadians who are in need of benefits. We all take this matter seriously.”

Her actions don’t suggest that.

Over the course of 2011, she cut Service Canada’s EI staff by 1,000. Last October, when claims spiked, she did nothing. In November, when opposition MPs raised the alarm in the House of Commons, she did nothing. In December, when claimants at a handful of Service Canada offices resorted to violence, she did nothing.

Finally, this month, the minister brought in 165 temporary workers to process EI claims, reassigned 214 Service Canada employees from other duties and boosted the hours of 120 claims processors.

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