“There is widespread consensus about the issues facing employment insurance, but less agreement about the policy avenues to follow, said Frances Woolley, an economics professor from Carleton University in Ottawa.
“Any changes will have well-defined losers, particularly if changes affect seasonal workers and high-unemployment regions, she said, while winners spread across the country aren’t going to be as loud.
“‘Whenever you have a situation where you have a well-defined group of losers and a diffuse group of winners, it’s a politically impossible situation,’ said Woolley, who has studied the EI system.
“‘You’re not going to be able to build political consensus around that. So what’s the point of having a review when there isn’t something you can build political consensus about?’”
(The Canadian Press, “Documents show Liberals warned of political perils from launching EI review,” Ottawa Citizen at www.ottawacitizen.com)