Abstract

Selling Massive UI Cuts As Improvements

Kevin Hayes

In the 1990's Canada’s unemployment insurance system was transformed in many ways; its very purpose, its role in wiping out the government’s deficit and generating a surplus, and its role in training and relations with Quebec.

At the beginning of the decade 75% of the unemployed were covered. By the end of the decade only 37% were covered – about a million fewer workers a year.

The cuts in unemployment funds were to be reinvested in worker training. But federal training dollars has been cut by a billion a year.

The presentation will look at the various strategies and tactics used by the government to convince the millions of Canadians who would lose their insurance protection that it would be still there for them and their families when they lost their job.

The presentation will look particularly at how the government shaped and re-shaped the public’s knowledge and understanding of the program – everything from the use of myths to facts, the careful management and control of consultations with the public, parliamentary strategies and the design of eligibility rules.

Bio

Kevin Hayes, Senior Economist, Canadian Labour Congress with responsibilities for unemployment insurance, training, technological change, immigration, transportation. Principal staff person to several CLC policy committees: Unemployment Insurance; Training & Technology and Transportation.

Served as a labour representative on several federal advisory bodies related to unemployment insurance, training and labour force development, immigration and technology. Vice-chair of the Canada Employment and Immigration Advisory Council.

Before joining the CLC — an economist and policy advisor with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and senior manager with the Saskatchewan government in housing and municipal affairs.

Educated in economics at Loyola College ( now Concordia ) and McGill University in Montreal.

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