Much of Ottawa idle on EI file
The debate over Employment Insurance has re-emerged after Human Resources Development Canada launched its largest fraud investigation in New Brunswick history into the EI claims of some 2,000 fishplant workers in Southeast New Brunswick. In this editorial published in the Moncton Times and Transcript, Ottawa Bureau Chief Campbell Morrison argues HRDC should not be shouldering the responsibility of 'fixing' the EI system and questions the absence of other departments in finding solutions to the EI problem. Local MP Dominic LeBlanc and AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley are quoted as two supporters for a solution involving more than one agency. ACOA Minister Gerry Byrne, however, disagrees and sees no role for his agency until the investigations are complete. Morrison and LeBlanc are disappointed by this lack of initiative on all fronts, but as Crowley points out "EI has become so politicized that everybody is scared to death to open their mouth" and that, says Morrison, is too bad.