Movement for Canadian Literacy

Basic Skills and the Bottom Line:

Conclusions

Proposed changes to Canada's unemployment insurance system are a key part of a plan to fundamentally restructure the federal government's approach to national labour force development. These changes are being contemplated at the same time as federal and provincial governments across the nation also consider and implement other fundamental changes to Canada's social security system.

While our presentation has focused on the specific impacts of Bill C-12 on people with low literacy levels, we recognize that the employment insurance system is but one thread in the fabric of Canada's social security system. For all its faults, our social security system has been the hallmark of Canada's commitment to meeting the basic needs and protecting the rights of all members of our community. All Canadians, rich and poor alike, have benefited tremendously from this commitment.

We need only to look to our neighbors south of our border to see the effects of government policies that favour rugged individualism and survival of the fittest over a commitment to shared responsibility for ensuring the well-being of members of the society. Among these effects are lower levels of taxation and dramatically higher levels of violent crime, drug abuse and homelessness.

We call upon the federal government to ensure that changes to the employment insurance system of Canada are articulated with other social security programs at the federal and provincial levels in a way that continues to ensure that the basic needs of Canadians are met.