Organized crime at the Federal level: Conservatives are stealing from the working class

EDITORIAL: EI backlog leaves Canadians in lurch

People buy insurance to have a safety net in an emergency.

With federal Employment Insurance, of course, it’s usually not optional — most working Canadians must pay EI premiums — but the basic concept is the same. If someone loses his job, EI is supposed to kick in after a couple of weeks to help pay the bills until that person can find alternative employment.

That means the federal government has a tremendous duty of care to ensure the EI system is functioning as expected. Legitimate claimants who’ve paid into the system expect — indeed, count on — the program to work when needed. Discovering it doesn’t can inflict real damage in people’s lives.

Ottawa has clearly failed to fulfil that duty. The number of Canadians having to wait more than four weeks for a decision on their EI claims last year climbed above 90,000, our Ottawa Bureau Chief Paul McLeod reported Friday.

In 2010, that number had been less than half that amount, at 44,000.

READ MORE: http://thechronicleherald.ca/editorials/1257492-editorial-ei-backlog-leaves-canadians-in-lurch