Good EI plan

In order to avoid a summer election last week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff struck a deal: the establishment of a committee to look at Canada's Employment Insurance program, with three members chosen by Harper and three by Ignatieff.
Shortly after the establishment of the committee, the premiers of the four western provinces and the three territories, or their representatives, came up with a list of proposed changes they would like to see to the EI program.
One of the premiers' proposals is that Canadians get equal support from the program, regardless of where they work. Instead of 58 regions with different eligibility standards, the premiers want to see three regional qualifications: urban, rural and remote.
The premiers' request is a good one.
In today's economic climate, it's high time the employment insurance program is given a critical examination.
Currently, the number of hours a person needs to work to qualify for EI benefits varies across Canada, and this calculation is based on local unemployment rates.
In Gander, N.L., a person needs to work 420 hours to qualify for EI, and in Winnipeg, 700 hours.
In the parts of Canada where the recession has struck especially hard, such as Ontario, the fact that a person there has to wait longer than someone in Newfoundland, where the recession has not had as much of an impact, is a strange reality.
Also, let's not forget that Newfoundland is on the verge of declaring itself to be a "have" province, while Ontario is now a "have-not."
While the western and territorial premiers are representing parts of Canada that have weathered the recession a little better, that doesn't mean their request for equal treatment by the program for all Canadians isn't exactly right.
EI eligibility standards are based on an antiquated image of which parts of Canada are economically better off, and these standards have clearly been turned upside down.