Ottawa announces $189M to extend employment insurance for seasonal workers

Ottawa has announced $189 million for an employment insurance pilot project that provides seasonal workers with up to five more weeks of benefits.

Jean-Yves Duclos, the minister of Families, Children and Social Development, made the announcement today at a fisheries plant in Escuminac, N.B.

Duclos says up to five more weeks will be provided to eligible workers in seasonal industries in 13 regions throughout Canada.

Those economic regions include central Quebec, eastern and western Nova Scotia, Madawaska–Charlotte in New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador, excluding St. John's, N.L.

An estimated 51,500 workers will benefit from the extra weeks of employment insurance.

The federal government says it will also provide up to $41 million over two years to all provinces and territories through labour market development agreements to provide skills training, wage subsidies and employment supports for workers in seasonal industries.