EI changes: What they mean for Islanders

It's no secret sweeping reforms to Canada's Employment Insurance (EI) program brought in under the formerConservative government didn't sit well with manyIslanders.Now, the Liberal government is making its own EI changes, announced in yesterday's 2016 federal budget.

But what will those changes mean for people in Prince Edward Island? Here are fivethings you should know:

1. More benefits for some Canadians, but not Islanders

The federal government is offering up to five weeks of additional EI benefits (up to 20 more weeks for long-tenured workers), to Canadians living in 12 regions hit hard by the slumping oil industry.According to the budget, those regions have seen their unemployment rates increase by two per cent or more in the last year.

Since P.E.I. doesn't fit that bill even with an 11 per cent unemployment rate in February Islanders won't be offered any additional weeks.

Liberal Malpeque MP Wayne Easter thinks that's okay.

"It's the absolute shock in those areas that's really got them," he said."We have a more consistent unemployment rate."

2. Easier eligibility requirements for some

As it stands, those who are new to the workforce or who haven't worked much for years need to put in910 hours of insurable employment before they can claim regular EI benefits.Come this July, that will no longer be the case.For Islanders, regardless of work history, eligibility will only be determined by where they live either in the Charlottetown region or P.E.I. region.

Speaking of which...

3.The Island's 2 EI regions will remain for now

The Harper government angered some Islanders back in 2014 when it split the Island into two EI regions: The Charlottetown region, comprising the city itself and a surrounding area stretching up to parts of the North Shore; and the P.E.I. region, essentially the rest of the Island.

In a nutshell, it has meantpeople living in the Charlottetown region require more hours of work to qualify for EI, and people who live in the P.E.I. region require fewer hours.

And at least for now, those rules won't change.

"We're still working on that," Easter said. "I did not expect to see it in a budget because it's specific to P.E.I.But we've got agreement by all four MPs to change that, and we're working with government."

4. Job search rules to be 'reversed'

Measures brought in under the former Conservative government requiredEI recipients to broaden their work search, both in the type of employment and in how far they werewilling to commute to work. The Trudeau government wasn't specific on details in its budget, butmaintains it will "reverse those changes that strictly define the job search responsibilitiesof unemployed workers".

5.A shorter wait

Anyone who's claimed EI is well aware of the mandatory two-week waiting period before the first cheque arrives.

In its budget, the new government says that delay "can make it difficult for some to make ends meet while they wait for their first EI payment."Starting in 2017, that waiting period will be reduced to just one week. The federal government's also promising to hire more EI call centre agents so claimants won't have to spend as much time on hold.

• MORE P.E.I. NEWS |Queen Elizabeth Hospital's new heart testing keeps patients on the Island
• MORE P.E.I. NEWS |P.E.I. college students safe in Brussels, leaving city today