New EI rules to make unemployment more attractive

So, the federal Liberals want to make EI easier to get and more generous in parts of the country that have high unemployment. Interesting that most of those areas also vote Liberal...

This is a stupid policy because generous EI destroys the incentive to work. And we need workers, not folks sitting on the dole.

What would be more useful for the government to do would be to provide relocation assistance to the unemployed to move to places where jobs are plentiful and unemployment is low. Like Alberta. The unemployment rate in Calgary is officially 3%, but that would be about 20,000 unemployed people, and there are something like 75,000 open job positions in this city right now. Help wanted signs, including apprenticeships and free training, are everywhere. And Edmonton is in a similar situation. I wouldn't recommend Fort McMurray - kind of hard to find a place to live...

Oh wait - Albertans (including those who came from elsewhere) tend to vote Conservative. The NGP doesn't want that....

The other stupid thing about this policy is that they apparently identified Northern Alberta as a place that needs assistance?

Uhh.... Where exactly in Northern Alberta is unemployment high?

• Fort McMurray? No.
• Grande Prairie? No.
• High Level? No.
• Edmonton? No.
• Cold Lake? No.
• Peace River? No.

Ok - there MIGHT be high unemployment on some remote Indian Reserves (like Garden River in Wood Buffalo National Park).