The east-west divide of Northern BC

The EI system in the northern part of the province once again finds itself under the microscope, with a hot economy in the east and a lukewarm if not outright cold on in the west. The system is in need of an overhaul according to the local MP Nathan Cullen, who calls on the federal government to take a longer look at the current crisis in the area.

Suggesting that the reporting area be divided into Northwest and Northeast sections, Cullen feels that once that technical matter is acted upon, the Northwest will gain better access to job retraining funding.

He also touched on the second reading of the anti replacement worker bill currently working its way through the House of Commons, though his comparison of the House of Commons, to a “house of Pastry” as reported in the final paragraph of the story kind of leaves you wondering what it is that he’s trying to get across. Unless of course he’s comparing MP’s to apple turnovers, cream puffs or possibly hot cross buns, which might work, we guess.

The Daily News had the details in its Friday edition

CULLEN CALLING FOR EI REGION TO BE SPLIT
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, October 27, 2006
Pages one and two

Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen is looking at shorter term solutions to fix the Employment Insurance (EI) system in northern B. C. while a bill to overhaul the system works its way through the House of Commons.

“We are trying to work on a specific measure right now to separate the region. The region as it’s designed right now, goes from the Queen Charlotte Islands all the way to For St. John, with obviously a huge stretch of economies. We want the federal government to split the region into a ‘northwest’ and ‘northeast’, much the way the federal ridings are,” said Cullen. “We are also looking for serious training dollars from EI and Western Economic Diversification in Prince Rupert and this riding area.”

Currently, shore workers in Prince Rupert are having trouble accessing EI because of the failure of the pink salmon run this summer and the fact that the EI region includes the booming economies of Fort St. John and Prince George.

Last weekend, shoreworkers held a rally, barbecue and letter writing campaign at Fishermen’s Hall to try and keep their spirits up.

Cullen said he doesn’t know yet where the best boundary split would be but its clear things can’t stay the dame.

“We have to talk with some communities and people who follow the employment numbers to see what the natural fit is (to split the region.) The federal boundaries might make sense, they might not,” he said.

“I think the main point is to get the federal government to understand you can’t mix apples and oranges and have one program that fits both of them and that’s what we have.”

“When Rupert is doing as well as Fort St. John, then we can talk, but it hasn’t been that way for a long time and it shows how out of touch the program is with the reality on the ground.”

In the meantime, Cullen said he was pleased a second reading of what he called an “anti-scab” bill was passed Wednesday evening in the House of Commons.

Bill C-257 is the third legislative attempt to outlaw the use of replacement workers at the federal level.

“The bill got through and it came through resoundingly. It exists in B. C. and Quebec already and we are looking to make it happen right across the country. It has been shown to lower labour disputes’ intensity and length,” said Cullen.

He said amending the Canada Labour Code to ban replacement workers during disputes will help bring balance, fairness and economic stability to the workplace and the country.

“Labour disputes are also prolonged, making strikes and lockouts even more costly to the Canadian economy in the short term an, as a result, lingering animosity can infect workplaces for years.”

Cullen said that removing the ability to use replacement workers results in smoother labour relations and shorter labour disputes with less risk to everyone involved.

“Watching the labour movement come on the hill and get second reading of the anti-scab bill really showed the House of Commons has the potential to return back to a House of Commons, as opposed to a house of pastry, and listen to average working folks." he said.