Senator takes last crack at P.E.I. EI zones before retirement

Sen. Diane Griffin is having one last go at having P.E.I. changed back to one employment insurance zone.

Griffin will retire at the end of March, and she has put forward a bill in the Senate to make the province one zone again.

"There is a real issue here with fairness," said Griffin.

"A person could work for the same company at the same level of pay, but because one lives in Summerside and the other lives in Charlottetown they're eligible for very different amounts of employment insurance benefits."

P.E.I. was made two different zones, known as Charlottetown and Prince Edward Island, in 2014.Canada is split into different zones based on unemployment rates, and people living in zones with higher rates are eligible formore benefits.

With the current rates on the Island, a person living outside of Charlottetown is eligible for seven more weeks of benefits than someone inside it.

Given the size of P.E.I., said Griffin, it makes no sense to divide the province in two. The split can cause hardships for particular people, she said.

"People with disabilities, people who are recent immigrants or refugees, because they often settle in the greater Charlottetown area where there are more services available to them," she said.

Numerous efforts have been made to change the zones back in the last eight years, but the change has stuck so far.

Griffin acknowledged that even under the best of circumstances her bill would be unlikely to become law, and its chances are even worse given that she won't be in the Senate to champion it through the process.

But she said it is important to keep raising awareness of the issue.