To anyone who agrees with his comments, you are a totally inconsiderate and uninformed asshole. It’s not enough that you come from a priveleged background..It’s not enough that your wife is a former Minister of Community Services [I can imagine the dinner table talk} but you are supposedly a representative of the very people you put down. I hope this spells the end of your political career and makes you a pariah in your community…Maybe you [and your wife] need to try trading places with some of these so-called “no good bastards” so you can find out just how tough life is for them and how it is the polar opposite to the life you undoubtedly enjoy…Idiot….
—AL Hickey
This article appears in Nov 26 – Dec 2, 2009.
al, see the above bitch, then go fuck yourself. If you are ablebodied and bumming on SGR then too fucking bad. There are plenty of places looking for employees. Granted they’re not $50,000/yr jobs but so what, it’s honest work. Yes I know WORK is a four letter word.
not gonna lie i can fully understand why people who go on EI before taking humiliating, back breaking labor for less money.
personally I think everyone that gets all high and mighty about how they work so and all the people that take advantage of EI are scum bags and leeches. pretty sure if the tables were turned and your only option for work was 7.50/hour at mcdonalds that $10 an hour EI would be looking pretty nice.
you pay into the shit your entire life, I see nothing wrong with taking advantage of it.
SOMETIMES THE TRUTH HURTS, and people need to hea it.
hear it.
neville, not all people who work hard labor find it humiliating. Some of the most honest, hard working, proud men I know work hard labor, and most of them love the work, just not the pay.
EI is meant to protect you when you are between jobs. It’s not an early retirement fund. Fuck what a shitty attitude. This is the problem you get with a social welfare system that is too good – a sense of entitlement. What looks better on a resume “worked at McDonald’s for a year” or “Stayed on unemployment because it paid better”?
When I quit my job & went freelance, I looked into incorporating myself. People were saying, you quit your job & do that you won’t be eligible for E.I. ! -gasp-
Well here I am 10+ years later…still freelancing, own a small corp. business & don’t have to pay E.I. premiums, I may not be able to collect it.
But at least I don’t have to pay into it either !
As for the comments made about ‘lazy bastards’ for the most part he’s right. If he wasn’t right, no one would be begging on the streets & no farmer would have to import migrant workers to help pick his crop ! Its a lot easier to take a handout than it is to go to work !!!
And our IMO over generous welfare system is proof of that. Proof is in the numbers & the number of useless bums on welfare & habitual E.I. back up him & me.
Personally, I’d love to know how all these people are *getting* EI…
A friend of mine completed a contract, and *legitimately qualified*, ROE in order, claiming hours, claiming income coming from part-time income outside of EI earnings, but they let her wait with NO MONEY for over 6 months before they told her she “didn’t qualify” because she was working part-time while looking for work.
Fortunately for her she has friends who helped out financially so she wouldn’t lose her house… maybe some of you people know someone who screwed the system, but the only people I know have *gotten* screwed.
Including *me*. If I thought a class-action suit would work, I’d start one. After over 20 years of paying into something I have never used, I’d like to be able to stop, but they won’t let me unless I start a business, like More…
nevil, min wage is $8.60 and while that’s not a decent pay, you’re at least doing something.
I still think his comments weren’t out of line… probably because I walk springgarden every day. I can see how those who don’t, do not quite get it.
they’re scammers and they’re every fucking block…
The MP is right. Lazy people need to get with the program and start contributing to society. Quit sitting on your asses begging for money.
Miles, it’s the fuckheads who take advantage of EI that make all those on EI look like douchebags.
Some people forget that there are people on EI who have paid into it for years (more than their share) and end up drawing it for unforeseen circumstances. And honestly, it can be tough for some people to find jobs — jobs that can support a family and pay the bills, especially when one loses a decent paying job. I know people who lost $55,000/yr jobs and couldn’t find another job paying less, let alone a job that would support a family and pay the mortgage. Mind you, these people never once considered going on SA and got creative and started their own [successful] business (funded with government loans — they’re out there for people who want to create their own work). I guess my point is, that some people are just seen as unemployable (mainly those who are older).
I think we’re talking about people who sit around collecting with no ambition to do anything else with their lives until they’re required to.
This is part of the reason our government programs might need a little more research before being put into practice, and may require reform more than once every 25 years.
So, you want to collect EI? OK, answer that you’re actively looking for work, and provide us with one or two names of places you applied for (even if you didn’t because we’ll never actually check), and voila! Unless, of course, you actually qualify for EI, but we think you should be able to find a job pretty fast based on your ROE, in that case, we’ll keep stringing you along until you find a job, which should be pretty quick which means less paperwork for us…
Sorry, I’m a little bitter that I have paid out over $25K to a system I do not use. Sure it’d be great if it was there when I needed it, but you know what? I have never been unemployed for more than 3 weeks in my whole working life. I have taken jobs I hated, I have taken jobs I was overqualified for, but I have WORKED.
I have requested to NOT have EI deducted off my pay, and they won’t allow it. So I have worked for 20+ years to basically pay for one person’s EI for a year. They have just made it voluntary for business owners, why not for everyone?(I know, I know, the whole system would collapse, poverty would be at a record high, crime would go up, idiot MPs would make stupid comments, yadda yadda…)
Who’s working to pay ME for a year to sit on my arse? Oh, wait, *I* am with my retirement savings…
Wow, suddenly my chest feels lighter now that I got all this pissed-offedness surgically removed… Thanks Dr. LTWWB!
Gidget, I feel your pain. I worked full time for the 5 years I was in post-secondary education. During that time, had I lost my job, I wouldn’t have been able to pay rent, buy groceries or pay the interest on my student loans – because university students, although they HAVE to pay into EI if they are working, are not eligible to collect EI if they lose said job.
Problem is, people who make the legislation have never actually had to USE it…