Cullen looks for a little compassion from the bureaucracy

The MP for Skeena, Nathan Cullen is hoping to find a little humanity among the “bean counters” of Ottawa, a project which seems rather daunting, considering that your average Ottawa bureaucrat has about as much compassion as Belinda Stronach on a date. You have a much better chance of hearing a good song on a local radio station, than having a bureaucrat move that rock an inch

The cause that Cullen and other like minded MP’s in Ottawa are seeking, is some compassion and some changes, when it comes to the EI regulations and its impact on North coast shoreworkers and fishermen.

In fact the government even commissioned a report on the issue (something that Bureaucrats are rather passionate about), Restoring Financial Governance and Accessibility in the Employment Insurance Program. Which if the the average citizen had the money could be purchased for a mere $26, it no doubt makes for some fine reading while you sit around the house wondering if you can scrape enough hours together to qualify for the topic at hand!

If you like that one, you can pick up the sequel Restoring financial governance and accessibility in the Employment Insurance Program. Part I , it retails at $19 from your local government retailer.

We can't wait for the movie options and the inevitible television mini-series! Teeming masses, well fed bureaucrats, earnest politicians my we can sense an epic when we see one!

Perhaps a few less reports and a lot more action might go a long way to resolving the situation.

The issue has been brought to the full boil with the lackluster fishing season of the past summer and the impact that is going to have on shoreworkers and fishermen, who came up short of qualifying for Employment Insurance.

With not enough hours worked over the course of the year and a local employment situation that is still rather shaky, the local fish industry workers are looking at a time on Social Assistance to get by over the winter. Something that will bring home in full the crisis that seems to occur over and over again in the local fishing industry of late.

The Daily News had a full report on Cullen’s attempts in their Monday edition.

MP CULLEN CALLING FOR HUMANITY FROM ‘BEAN COUNTERS’
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Monday, October 2, 2006
Page One

The bean counters in Ottawa are showing little humanity when it comes to regulations surrounding Employment Insurance (EI) and its impact on the West Coast fishermen and shoreworkers, said Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen.

And the Conservative government is dragging its heels when it comes to getting involved.

“We are fighting on this one in Ottawa really hard right now. We were able through the committee process last year to get recommendations that would specifically help out the fishing industry on the West Coast and East Coast as well. Conservatives were part of that committee and endorsed those recommendations,” said Cullen.

“Now that they are in power, they have thrown a few bones out to Quebec but the minister keeps asking for more time to do more studies. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”

With next to no pink salmon available for either catching or processing seine fishermen and shoreworkers are not only having an extremely poor season, but most will not have worked enough hours to qualify for EI this winter.

EI qualifying hours are based on the unemployment rate throughout the local region, which stretches from the Queen Charlotte Islands to Alberta and from the Yukon to Quesnel.

The area includes the booming economies of Prince George (which is harvesting a glut of pine beetle wood) and the northeastern part of the province (which has a booming oil industry.)

However, the committee Cullen is talking about – the Federal Parliament’s Sub-Committee on Employment Insurance – tabled a report called Restoring Financial Governance and Accessibility in the Employment Insurance Program back in February of 2005. The report recommended that EI regions be split into smaller areas and that job prospect programs be more quickly implemented, so workers can learn new skills while working at jobs that are EI insurable.

If implemented, this would help fishermen and shoreworkers.

“The Conservatives crossed over the floor and became government and started acting like a bunch of Liberals when it comes to EI, putting in further and further restrictions and making it less humane. That’s the struggle I have. There is little humanity in the decision these bureaucrats in Ottawa make. They are just counting up the beans and not really thinking about the human impact,” he said. Cullen said he is working with people in Prince Rupert to come up with a plan that addresses the short term problems as well as making long-term changes, so the same thing doesn’t happen every year.

“Anyone with any basic knowledge of Northern British Columbia knows that a Prince Rupert or a Masset is nothing right now like say a Fort St. John. You would have to be pretty thick to lump all these regions together when calculating what kind of support families need.”

Cullen will also be making a submission to the minister for relief.