Just a couple of the highlights:
The Liberals have taken a position that is clear and easily explainable... They want employment insurance, as we euphemistically call it, to be available anywhere across the country after only 360 hours of work. The Liberals believe 150,000 people would be helped by their policy, but the political benefit is even greater. The employment insurance system we have now is so complex and difficult to understand that any Canadian who fears losing his job would rightly worry about whether he would quality for payments. Expect the worriers to back the Liberal plan.
As it is now, Canadians must work between 420 and 700 hours to collect EI, depending on the rate of unemployment in the region in which they live.
The Conservatives have chosen to champion this absurdly complex system, although they certainly didn't invent it. Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff wants change so Prime Minister Stephen Harper is against it. It's as simple as that. The substance of the matter is irrelevant.
It's not an easy problem to solve. Something that treats all Canadians in the same way would be a good start, and the Liberals are on the right track there.
The recession has made fixing EI a priority. The Liberals are right to push it and the Conservatives would be smart to respond.
Denley is normally pretty Conservative friendly, so to see him speaking kind words about the Liberals lately is an encouraging sign!
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