OTTAWA – The Harper government has no plans to act on opposition calls for a national standard on the number of work hours needed to collect EI, says a cabinet minister.

"We're not open" to the idea of 360 hours as a minimum threshold for benefits," National Revenue Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn said today outside the House of Commons.

"We're acting," he said, referring to Conservative changes that extended EI benefits by five weeks regardless of region.

Demand for EI has soared by more than 20 per cent in parts of the country hardest hit by the economic slide.

And the issue is shaping up to be a key factor in how long an increasingly fractious minority Parliament survives.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is demanding to see changes to the EI system by the time Parliament adjourns for the summer in June.

Following the Liberals' national convention on the weekend, Ignatieff suggested EI could be the issue that triggers another federal vote.

He says there's a patchwork of entrance requirements across the country and called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to commit to a national standard of 360 hours as a threshold for collecting benefits.

"Canadians are hurting from this recession, and yet our EI system leaves too many unemployed workers out in the cold and discriminates against them based on where in Canada they live," he said.

"We have record job losses – 357,000 and counting – and a government that has failed to adequately reform EI to accommodate the current economic circumstances."

The Bloc Quebecois has also pressed for a 360-hour threshold.

Asked specifically about the 360-hour standard, Blackburn said today the government is "not open" to such changes.

Pressed on whether the Conservatives are willing to fight an election on the matter, he said "bonjour" and ended the media scrum.

The issue once again dominated the daily question period in the Commons.

Harper touted recent improvements made to EI, a system he says is ``generous."

"Mr. Speaker, as the leader of the Liberal party should know, Canada has a very generous system of employment insurance that was, in fact, enhanced in the most recent economic action plan of this government."

NDP Leader Jack Layton says those changes, which include an extra five weeks' of benefits regardless of where the person lives, don't go far enough.

Layton is pushing for the minimum number of required hours to be set at 360 and for elimination of the two-week unpaid waiting period before benefits kick in.

He demanded the Tories adopt these and more wide-ranging measures contained in a motion recently passed by MPs.

"Women are not being treated equally, people in different regions across the country are not being treated equally," Layton said in the Commons.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

"The Liberal record is clear. Before Liberals took government, 75 per cent of workers were able to get EI help when they needed it. When they left, it was down to 40 per cent. Now is the chance to fix it."

Ignatieff says the EI system – with 54 different regional rates that now apply – is ripe for overhaul.

The wife of Conservative cabinet heavyweight Jim Flaherty, the finance minister, is also publicly calling for major changes.

"The federal EI program is unfair to Ontario," said Christine Elliott, MPP for Whitby-Oshawa and an Ontario Tory leadership hopeful.

Both Elliott and her husband have seen their ridings sideswiped by auto-sector and manufacturing layoffs.

"Ontarians who pay into EI during the good times should get benefits when they need them, just like they were promised," she said.

Ontario should consider opting out to create its own system if Ottawa won't fix the federal one, she said.

Ignatieff has denied he's jockeying for an EI electoral showdown. But he has stressed: "If we can't make (Parliament) work, then the people will have to sort it out."

Election timing is not under Liberal control in any case. All three opposition parties would have to join to force what would be the fourth federal election in five years.

And there are signs the NDP and Bloc Quebecois are shying away from campaign prospects as Liberals gain political steam.

Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe said the party will wait to see what the government does on EI before deciding whether it can co-operate on that and other issues.

After months of voting non-confidence in the government at every turn, both the NDP and the Bloc are now hinting they could co-operate with the Tories on various causes, including EI reform.

Read more about: