Don Mills, Chairman and CEO of Halifax-based Corporate Research Associates, Inc., put out the following series of tweets this afternoon:
Between 2001-10, Newfoundlanders received a staggering $5.9 billion more in EI benefits than paid in contributions. #NLpoli
— Don Mills (@DonMillsCRA) August 12, 2013
Between 2001-10, New Brunswickers received nearly $3.4 billion more in EI benefits than paid in contributions. #nbpoli
— Don Mills (@DonMillsCRA) August 12, 2013
Between 2001-10, Islanders received nearly $1.2 billion more in EI benefits than paid in contributions. #peipoli
— Don Mills (@DonMillsCRA) August 12, 2013
Between 2001-10, Nova Scotians received nearly $2 billion more in EI benefits than paid in contributions. #nspoli
— Don Mills (@DonMillsCRA) August 12, 2013
No wonder Atlantic premiers do not want to change EI Program given the net cash transfer from the rest of Canada.#NSpoli #nlpoli #NBPoli
— Don Mills (@DonMillsCRA) August 12, 2013
Indeed. Add that all up and between 2001-2010, the wealth transfer to the four Atlantic Canada provinces through employment insurance benefits alone (forget about health transfers, equalization payments, etc.) is net + $12.5 billion.
Isn’t that the point of insurance that if things go wrong, you are covered. If you only got back what you paid into it you would be better off socking the money away and collecting the interest for yourself. Not to mention that the Atlantic provinces are much poorer then the rest of the country and employment and none seasonal employment are fairly scarce. Yet I think there are few of us that would want to do with out the offerings of the sea. This article is mean spirited and beneath you David.
There is nothing mean spirited about the truth Alexandra. And the facts are not beneath anyone except the residents of Atlantic Canada who are living so high on the hog thanks to Western Canadians, the elevation has made them delirious. If employment is so scarce out there I have one word for you – MOVE!! Don’t just come to the West, earn top dollar, and then go back to your native province and take advantage of EI benefits.Your own citizens and their greed is what is making Atlantic Canada look like mooches and leeches. This article only skims the surface of the full extent of what is going on here. Lets get an estimate of how much money is being funneled East by employees of the oil industry. That number, I am more than certain, is in the billions. That should put the unbelievable amount of EI benefit abuse in proper perspective. So you have a population who remains unemployed, refuses to relocate to areas where employment is abundant, send a member of the household East to earn and send money, and still abuses employment insurance And WE are wrong for pointing this out?? While worthy, deserving Canadians have difficulty receiving and then living off of what they get from EI, Maritime Mooches pull it in hand over fist???
There is more to this story than is mentioned: There are many New Foundlanders and Maritimers that have packed up and moved out West because of the many job opportunities. These Maritimer even leave their families behind to come and work in the west, and send their wages and salaries to their home Province to support them. Kudos to all those who sacrifice family life for financial stability
you perceive a simple statement of a few facts as “mean spirited” …really?
Here is a simple fact. Your entire premise of the way insurance is intended to operate is correct but it is meaningless in the context of this discussion. I base that on the fact that the eastern provinces have collected more than they contribute every year since UI was implemented and the numbers get higher every year. You tell me of one other form of insurance where you get to collect more than you pay every year for over 30 years.
David – thank you for providing this information. Far too many things are kept secret, or just not published, and if it weren’t for you and others telling it like it is, we wouldn’t understand how the other half lives. Glad you have the ability to post things like this.
@Alexandra, well said. I’d like to ask what Don Mills and David Akin might have to fall back on if and when they’re out of work; that usually clears up what side of the (class) debate they’re on. If small-government types want to keep tallying the federal accounts in this selective manner, maybe it’s time for the Atlantic provinces to hike energy rates when they provide oil and gas to central Canada.
Has anyone forgotten it is an insurance. It is not a free handout as described. Typical right wing semantics. I sure hope when I have an insurance either life, auto or employment the it is paid out when needed.
Just one question. What happened to the billions in surplus E.I. funds that built up over the last twenty years? They were appropriated by Govt. becoming in effect a tax. Govt. pays nothing into the E.I. fund. If Canada is a nation, I have no problem with poorer regions receiving more than they pay in. Federal govt. policies have decimated the fisheries and are largely responsible for the high unemployment rate. You seem intent on fanning the flames of regionalism by appealing to the lowest common denominator, the fear that somewhere someone is getting more than you. Mean spirited would be the appropriate term here.
EI is not insurance it is welfare to eastern provinces.