The New Brunswick Government called a meeting with student leaders last week to break the news that they are putting an end to New Brunswick\u2019s EI Connect program, which allows students who earn enough hours to qualify for Employment Insurance to claim their benefits while attending university.<\/p>\n
The news was something that Rohin Minocha-McKenney, president of the Mount Allison Students Union and chair of the board with the New Brunswick Student Alliance, didn\u2019t see coming. \u201cTo say it was a massive surprise, I think would be an understatement,\u201d says Minocha-McKenney. \u201cUsually we would hear something [about what\u2019s coming in advance], but this was out of the blue, without any consultation from students, and even without any time for students to react.\u201d<\/p>\n
Minocha-McKenney says the change in policy amounts to a cut in funding to about 7000 students, and \u201cit was a decision that was made quickly and without consideration to students is what we\u2019re hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an emailed statement to CHMA news, Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour (PETL) spokesperson Genevi\u00e8ve Mallet-Chiasson says that the province is making the move in response to advice from the federal government, who said that the program is \u201cnot aligned with the intent of the EI program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mallet-Chiasson confirmed the move is revenue neutral for the province. EI is funded through contributions of employees and employers, and neither the provincial nor federal governments contribute directy to it, except as employers. Mallet-Chiasson said the cancellation of the program would bring, \u201cNew Brunswick\u2019s programming in line with what other provinces are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Minocha-McKenney points out that both Nova Scotia and PEI have programs in place that sound very similar to NB\u2019s soon-to-be-defunct<\/a> program. Nova Scotia\u2019s Fast Forward program<\/a> offers to allow people to continue their EI claims while in university or other qualifying training programs, though it requires that applicants have been in the labour force for 24 months before their claim begins. The website of PEI\u2019s Career Connect program<\/a> says it offers people who qualify for EI \u201can opportunity to continue to receive those benefits while attending full-time post-secondary studies within Canada for the duration of their claim.\u201d<\/p>\n In an emailed response to questions, Employment and Social Development Canada spokesperson Maja Stefanovska says that \u201cthe Government of Canada is not aware of other provincial student EI programs of this kind,\u201d referring to the New Brunswick program.<\/p>\n Stefanovska would not say whether or not the federal government asked New Brunswick to kill the NB-EI Connect program, though she did say the decision was New Brunswick\u2019s. She also pointed out that the federal government \u201cworks in continuous collaboration with the provinces\u201d on the programs.<\/p>\n Though the province hasn\u2019t cited it as a rationale, the editorial board at Brunswick News has published in support of the move by the province, claiming that the NB-EI Connect program \u201cworsened the provincial labour shortage.\u201d<\/p>\n Minocha-Mckenney says he\u2019s heard the same theory, but thinks that ending access to EI might force students out of the province, not just back into the labour force.<\/p>\n \u201cI was speaking with a student the other day, and they were on EI. They had that funding throughout the year. But now they\u2019re saying that they can\u2019t afford to take out any more student loans, they\u2019re already maxed out, they don\u2019t have any other financial options there. And they are now debating if they need to move back to Nova Scotia to do schooling there because of the funding opportunities that they have there,\u201d says Minocha-McKenney.<\/p>\n Minocha-McKenney says he has heard from about 30 students concerned about the program cancellation so far, which he considers significant considering that school is not in session at Mount Allison. He says many are concerned about their financial situation going into the coming school year without access to EI, considering rising costs of food and housing.<\/p>\n The New Brunswick Student Alliance, which Minocha-McKenney is part of, has called for a year long extension of the program to allow students time to adjust.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s probably the biggest thing that I\u2019ve been hearing,\u201d says Minocha-McKenney, \u201cis this decision coming two months before we\u2019re going into school, where students have already paid registration deposit, already registered for classes, and already have their lives set for school\u2026 And then to have this source of income loss for them during the year? That\u2019s a hard thing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re asking [the provincial government], even if this program isn\u2019t something that can go on long term,\u201d says Minocha-McKenney, \u201ccan it be extended, so that students can at least prepare for the year ahead?\u201d<\/p>\n The NBSA is also calling for future consultation with students in advance of major changes that can impact so many. Minocha-McKenney says consultation in advance is not just important, but its essential for good decisions.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the provincial government came to us and said, you know, this program is not working how we want it, and these are the issues we have with it, and we want it to change or to get rid of it, then we can work with them,\u201d says Minocha-McKenney.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not always against the government,\u201d says Minocha-McKenney. \u201cWe want to work with the government to create solutions that are good for not just students, but the rest of New Brunswick as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Hear this story as reported on Tantramar Report:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The New Brunswick Government called a meeting with student leaders last week to break the news that they are putting an end to New Brunswick\u2019s EI Connect program, which allows students who earn enough hours to qualify for Employment Insurance to claim their benefits while attending university. The news was something that Rohin Minocha-McKenney, president…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":103442,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[221,225],"tags":[16261,16260,1756,7078,16259,15823,16258,16262],"radio":[227],"origine":[274,275,277],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103439"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103439"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103448,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103439\/revisions\/103448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103439"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=103439"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=103439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}