Western Premiers Reach Agreement on Several Issues

Friday, June 19, 2009 04:59 PM

The Western premiers have reached agreement on several issues at their 2009 conference.

Employment Insurance:

They agreed to work in partnership with the federal government to make employment insurance fair for all Canadians. They welcomed the appointment of the
federal working group on employment insurance (EI) and committed to making a joint submission to the committee.

Premiers agreed the following framework should shape EI for the benefit of all Canadian workers:
1. Employment insurance should be reformed using a principled approach that gives Canadians equal support regardless of the territory or province they work in.
2. It should build a temporary bridge to get workers through these challenging economic times.
3. The program should be streamlined from having 58 regions with different eligibility standards to nationwide benefits that reflect employment opportunities in urban centres and rural and remote
communities.
4. An emphasis on training should be a critical component of the reform.

INFRASTRUCTURE
Premiers applauded federal efforts to invest in major infrastructure partnerships this year. These are important for short-term economic stimulus.

They agreed the federal government's high priority on accelerated infrastructure funding is making a significant difference. In their 2009 budgets, western provincial and territorial governments have
allocated approximately $40 billion to large-scale public works and capital infrastructure projects in the next two years. This is in addition to projects going ahead under the federal Building Canada
Plan.

They stressed that time is of the essence and governments must maintain momentum by continuing to work together to simplify processes, approve projects and deliver results.

ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT

Premiers supported the need for an amendment to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act to permit the federal government to enter into equivalency agreements with provinces and territories, on a case-
by-case basis, to help avoid duplication and overlap in the environmental assessment process. They also called on the federal government to replace the Navigable Waters Protection Act with modern
legislation.

GANG VIOLENCE

Western premiers agreed on measures to help keep their communities safe. Premiers welcomed recent federal government actions to fight crime and are urging Canada to continue to make changes to the Criminal Code and other legislation to modernize wiretap laws, bail reform, and evidence disclosure requirements to speed up prosecutions.

Premiers agreed that improved information sharing and coordination among provinces and territories is important to enhance the work already underway to curb gang activity.

Provinces and territories were invited to attend the Alberta Gang Crime Summit to be held June 25-26, in Calgary.

Previous Story - Next Story

Email |

Print |

Facebook |

Twitter |

Digg |

Del.icio.us

Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 04:59 PM in News by 250 News

Return to Home

Comments

Posted by: RUEZ on June 19 2009 7:15 PM

Where were these western premiers when the Liberals first made it harder to get EI, and reduced the benefits? No where.

Posted by: Windigo on June 19 2009 9:34 PM

What you are seeing here is one of the positives of having a minority government, to bad we do not have the same minority in B.C.

Posted by: commoner on June 19 2009 9:42 PM

Guess no agreements on the state of economic reform/stimulus/growth as this was not reported? Where are the discussions on this at?? The silence is deafening. The pats on the back and sidestepping disgusting!
As usual, the Lords get richer and do little to address the REAL problems all on the backs of us lowly slaves...erm, taxpayers.

Posted by: charles on June 20 2009 8:14 AM

"Canada's 308 members of Parliament claim almost $128 million a year in personal and office expenses � spending that's risen 42% since 2000. But when the Star asked where the money was going, almost everyone refused to talk"

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/654005

Posted by: gus on June 20 2009 2:19 PM

That's just over $400,000 on average.

Each MP has a constituency office in their region. Some are staffed with two people or one person plus a part timer.

Plus office rent + services for the office.

Let me put a budget in at $140,000/year just to run the office, not to pay the expenses of the MP.

The same goes for a parliamentary office. There might only be one person there if a back bencher. If an opposition critic, it goes up because of research staff, and even higher for a Minister.

Moving an office 37 feet? They get dinged fro the cost even though it might be parliamentary government maintenance staff that move the furniture, phone, computers, etc.

Then there is an apartment in Ottawa for those who do not happen to live within an hour or so drive. $15,000/yr.?

Then comes travel. Isn't exactly cheap to travel accross the country. $50,000/yr? Twice that if they fly business class?

Meetings with people outside of the office - room rental? Food? Maybe even note takers if remote from the offices.

So far $300,000+ just for the "bare" minumum without those higher ones that have research staff and larger offices as a result as well.

So what is the fuss? Costs went up in 8 years because???

Air travel, mileage charge out rates, hotel rooms and even food. All those costs have gone up considerably in the past 8 years.

Think of them as running a business with two offices remote from each other.

Posted by: gus on June 20 2009 2:30 PM

Another way to look at it is to use common industry chargeout rates:

person A at $70/hr x 1,800 hrs = $126,000
person B at $60/hr x 1,800 hrs = $108,000
person C at $50/hr x 1,800 hrs = $ 90,000

That totals $324,000 which should cover all costs other than disbursements for travel, meetings, etc.

The MP's salary goes on top of that, or you can do the same charge out rate calculation at say $300/hr for say 1,200 hours.

Posted by: foxtrapper on June 20 2009 10:29 PM

Now that really makes math gloomy.

Posted by: winnie on June 22 2009 8:02 AM

Just a note on the EI - training program. I agree we need to put emphasis on training. I just would like to see it as equal for all Canadians. Right now if you want to go back to school you are better off being on EI even if you were laid off from a minimum wage job. If on EI or welfare you can get school sponsored, both tuition and living expenses but if you are working and want to return to school to improve your situation, to get into better paying work, there is no help available. The only choice the working person has is to take out big student loans. It is difficult for those that are working to better themselves, the may only be getting 10.00 per hr but chances are they cannot affort to go back to school. It's an unfair system.