Tony Martin does stuff

NEWS RELEASES

TONY MARTIN, MP

*********************** EI benefits pilot project extended after NDP lobby

OTTAWA – After NDP prodding in Parliament this week, the federal government announced it is adding 18 months to a pilot project aimed at getting employment insurance benefits to seasonal workers.

Northern Ontario is one of 21 economic regions included in the Extended EI Benefits pilot project.

It provides access to five additional weeks of benefits to EI claimants during periods of unemployment, up to a maximum of 45 weeks of benefits.

"I welcome the extension but the real solution is to fix employment insurance with its $46 billion surplus and less than one in three unemployed workers qualifying for benefits," Sault MP Tony Martin said.

"Fixing employment insurance is a key plank in the Ending Poverty in Canada Campaign the NDP announced this week." The pilot will continue to test whether providing additional weeks would help address the annual income gap faced by seasonal workers whose weeks of work and EI benefits are not sufficient to provide income throughout the year, and have any adverse labour market effects on other EI claimants.

*********************** NDP launches campaign to end poverty in Canada

OTTAWA – The NDP yesterday launched a national "End Poverty in Canada" campaign vowing to engage Canadians and their politicians to deciding what the fairest way forward is for all Canadians.

"Our social safety net has become an incoherent, inefficient mess that must be repaired," said NDP Social Policy Critic Tony Martin (Sault Ste. Marie).

"The working poor aren't receiving sufficient wages, they're unable to access Employment Insurance when they need it, and they can't house and feed their families. Something is terribly wrong in Canada when people working full-time for a full year still can’t make ends meet."

The NDP Social Policy Caucus cited recent United Nations and Ontario-based reports documenting the crisis which found:

- over half of Canadians receiving social assistance still need food banks to survive - most welfare levels are set at less than half the low-income cut-off, which the government's own advisory body, The National Council on Welfare, calls an "utter disaster" - about a third of low-wage workers do not earn sufficient income to make ends meet

Working with their civil society allies, the NDP will engage Canadians in dialogue on the Canada Social Transfer which transfers billions of dollars to provinces and territories with no accountability nor monitoring of its adequacy.

"We will travel to communities to hear from Canadians about what their principles of fairness, justice and equity say about what they want for themselves, their neighbours and all Canadians. It is time for a fair deal for all," said Martin.

As part of the campaign, Martin introduced a motion in Parliament yesterday to increase the federal minimum wage to $10 an hour for federal jurisdiction workers, and to implement recommendations from the Pay Equity Task Force Final Report.

Martin was joined by other NDP Social Policy Caucus members who spoke about the impact of poverty in their critic areas: Housing and Status of Women Critic Irene Mathyssen (London Fanshawe); Deputy Human Rights Critic Wayne Marston (Hamilton East – Stoney Creek), Employment Insurance Critic Yvon Godin (Acadie – Bathurst); Immigration Critic Bill Siksay (Burnaby – Douglas); Critic for Toronto Peggy Nash (Parkdale – High Park) and Child Care Critic Olivia Chow (Trinity - Spadina)

********************