The Conservatives have refused to give in to the opposition's demands to reform Employment Insurance, despite threats from the Liberals that they may seek to topple the government over the issue.
"We're not adverse to further improvements, but we will not be pressured, and we don't think it's responsible that the opposition constantly threatens an election at a time when the country is facing economic peril," Conservative House Leader Jay Hill told CTV's Question Period Sunday.
The Liberals, along with the other two opposition parties, are calling on the government to set a national threshold of 360 hours of paid work for workers to be eligible for EI during the recession.
The current threshold is between 420 hours to 910 hours of paid work, varying by region. Eligibility is also dependent on other factors like work history.
Hill said the government made some "important changes" to deal with unemployment during the recession, such as extending benefits for five weeks.
But those changes are not sufficient to deal with the 1.4 million Canadians that are out of work, of which 350,000 have lost their jobs in the last few months, Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale told Question Period.
Tens of thousands of workers don't qualify for EI under the present set of rules, he said, adding that to deal with the recession the rules must be temporarily changed.
The current rules were set by the Liberals in the 1990s.
"The rules were written for a time when the country was heading into a boom. Unfortunately for the country, the boom has ended and we're now into a bust," Goodale said.
But Hill argued that the changes would cause a rise in payroll taxes. In fact, the Liberals have said it would cost Canadians $1.5 billion a year.
Libby Davies, the NDP house leader, said her party set the groundwork for EI reform in a NDP motion passed by a majority of MPs last March.
"Let's start with that motion that was adopted by the House ... Let's fix the EI system for people," she said.
The motion called on the government to:
- Eliminate the waiting period for EI
- Reduce the number of hours worked to qualify
- Extend eligibility to self-employed workers
- Increase benefits
She said her party has been raising the issue every day during question period in the House.
"It just seems so outrageous that people cannot collect when they paid into an insurance program that doesn't have any government money in it," she said.
Goodale said the government must change the threshold to avoid an election.
"We're not cruising for an election. We don't particularly want that, but neither do we fear it," he said.
The government has become "increasingly frustrated" with the opposition's constant threat of an election, Hill said, adding that he was hoping to see a change in policy when Michael Ignatieff assumed leadership of the Liberals.
Ignatieff telegraphed his party's intent for an election on Thursday when he told a labour union in a speech that Harper needed "to make some constructive changes on EI before this summer."
"And I'm telling you straight, and I'm telling you clear: I cannot continue to make Parliament work unless we get substantive EI reform before this Parliament rises in June," he said.
