OTTAWA—Being jobless in Canada just got more worrisome after the Harper government said unemployed Canadians will face tougher requirements to hang on to their Employment Insurance benefits.

The crackdown is meant to push unemployed Canadians off the insurance rolls and into the workforce, even if it means they must accept lower-paying jobs or work they may not want.

“This is going to impact everyone because what we want to do is make sure that the McDonald’s of the world aren’t having to bring in temporary foreign workers to do jobs that Canadians who are on EI have the skills to do,” Human Resources Minister Diane Finley said Thursday.

Currently, only 40 per cent of the unemployed nationally — and only 26 per cent in Toronto — qualify for Employment Insurance benefits, but the government feels some EI recipients are taking advantage of the system and passing up local job opportunities.

Under the proposed changes, unemployed Canadians will for the first time be “required to look for a job every day they receive benefits” and be able to show evidence of their job search.

The new rules, which go into effect next year, redefine “suitable employment” and what constitutes a reasonable job search — measures meant to ensure Canadians on EI take jobs before they are offered to foreign workers.

For example, federal officials noted that in Ontario, 2,200 general farm workers submitted EI claims while employers got the green light to hire 1,500 foreign workers for the same occupation.

“It’s about taking advantage of the labour and skills that we have in this country, putting them to productive use,” Finley said.

But Toronto’s Zelda Cumberbatch fears the changes could leave her out in the cold, unable to find work and cut off from the Employment Insurance that helps her pay the bills.

Cumberbatch, 57, had been doing assembly work for a temp agency but was laid off in March. She has been relying on EI payments since then as her job search efforts have so far come up empty.

“No companies are hiring people full-time now because they don’t want to pay for the benefits,” she said.

She said these changes show that federal politicians don’t understand the struggle to find work.

“It’s not that we’re lazy. Not me, for sure. I’m not a lazy person. I clean houses, I do all kinds of work,” Cumberbatch said in an interview.

“They’re not for the poor people. They’re just for the rich people. Low-income people, we work hard because you pay mortgage, buy groceries. Shame on the federal government,” she said.

The complex new regime breaks EI claimants into three categories: long-tenured workers, frequent claimants and occasional claimants. But in each case, the requirements for hanging on to EI get tougher. A person could be forced to be less choosy about acceptable work, including taking a job paying only 70 per cent of his or her previous wage.

But Finley said people will not be required to take jobs well below their skill level or that require more than a one-hour commute (except in areas like the GTA, where longer commutes are the norm.)

More: Click here to read about the uproar caused by changes to EI.

And recipients will receive more information from the government on employment opportunities, including a “Job Alert” system based on two emails a day, she said.

The Conservatives’ changes underscored deep divisions over the EI system, a longtime lightning rod for criticism from all sides of the political spectrum.

NDP finance critic Peggy Nash said the new rules are “scapegoating” the unemployed by suggesting they are not looking hard enough for work.

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“The implication is that people are lazy and don’t want to work,” she said. “What I hear from this government is a message to demonize people who through no fault of their own are unemployed,” Nash said.

The overall impact of the Conservative changes to EI and the Foreign Worker Program will be to drive down everyone’s wages, critics said.

Canadian Labour Congress President Ken Georgetti said, “This government is intervening to load the dice against working people.”

Instead of taking steps that will undercut wages, Georgetti said, the government should be putting money into training and apprenticeship programs.

“We saw no new money in the federal budget for training,” he said. “The government, it seems, would sooner pick on unemployed workers than help to retrain them.”

Justine Lilley helps unemployed workers make the transition after a plant closing. She is now working with more than 200 Honeywell employees left out of work after their Scarborough plant closed.

“I’ve seen what obstacles they face. Of course they all want to take jobs . . . the prospects aren’t good for people these days. It’s getting worse and this isn’t helping,” Lilley said.

She worries that the changes will force unemployed workers into low-paying dead-end jobs rather than retraining to upgrade their skills to secure work with better long-term prospects.

“If you’re going to force people into these short-term jobs, they don’t have the time and energy to look for a better job,” Lilley said.

“I don’t see anything positive.”

But the Canadian Taxpayers Federation applauded the new regulations.

“The new EI rules strike a blow for hard-working Canadian taxpayers, against habitual pogey collectors who have been enjoying part-time work with other people’s money for far too long,” said federal director Gregory Thomas.

Finley touted the changes as an “improvement” to the EI system. The changes only apply to Canadians receiving regular and fishing EI benefits. They do not apply to Canadians receiving EI special benefits, such as maternity, parental, compassionate and sick leave.