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As the ranks of the unemployed in the province grow, calls are mounting for Ottawa to enhance federal employment insurance benefits for laid-off workers in Alberta.

New figures from Statistics Canada this week indicate the number of Calgarians collecting regular employment insurance benefits in November shot up an eye-popping 104 per cent from the same time a year ago.

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Across the entire province, EI recipients doubled from the same period a year earlier, hitting 61,300 beneficiaries.

Finance Minister Joe Ceci said the NDP government is looking for assistance from Ottawa as the province is battered by a plunge in crude oil prices that have triggered thousands of layoffs.

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He noted the federal Liberal government has talked about expediting infrastructure spending, but Alberta is also eyeing possible changes to the employment insurance program.

“They’ve done that in other places so benefits can be received longer by recipients,” he told CBC radio on Thursday.