The Conservative government has introduced new EI legislation that would expect unemployed Canadians to accept jobs with lower wages, up to an hour away from home, should their job searches prove unsuccessful beyond a prescribed time period. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has backed the legislation, saying “there is no bad job” and that he was once a taxi driver and a hockey ref—probably when he was a teenager. That said, those aren’t bad jobs compared to working at WalMart, or so I’m told…
Mind you, Flaherty would never have to accept that job under the new legislation. Even as an “occasional claimant” (do voted-out MPs even claim EI?), he would not be expected to take a job paying less than 70 per cent of his current salary. I’m pretty sure a stock boy makes a lot less than that!
