Meanwhile, the Good Jobs for All Coalition, a Toronto-based network of labour and community organizations, urged the government to listen to their recommendation of reducing the hours needed to access EI to 360.John Cartwright, president of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, said the timing of Finley’s announcement was “callous.”

“To use Labour Day to say, ‘Oh, we think we’re going to do something because we smell an election, but what we can’t tell you yet what it’s going to be,’ is really a dereliction of duty.”

Cartwright said that the longer it takes for the government to reform EI standards, the harder it will become for the unemployed to remain solvent.

Among the coalition’s recommendations is the request to increase the amount of money those on EI would receive.