I for Infuriating

Today this page saw people subjected to lies, bullied, threatened, held for extended periods without charge, tortured, and executed. Mind you, I did go to the movies after the EI 'information' session.

What 'information' did this page discover at the offices of Human Resources Development Canada? I found out, as I alluded to yesterday, that the EI system is a means of social control. Whereas the old Unemployment Insurance system encouraged recipients to look for a job they intend on keeping for a while, the current EI regime expects its subjects to be 'ready and willing to work' at all times. Medical concerns or Recall Rights be damned: take the first thing that comes along and shut up.

EI is also a means to preserve the class system in case those in first class get a little down on their luck. Based on what I heard in the Q&A, the rich don't have to report their earnings on investment incomes or real estate properties, while working people are shaken down for their bingo winnings, birthday money from their aunts, or the few bucks we received for raking a neighbour's leaves. Like that urchin in Oliver, working people (or those who wish they could be working) get slapped back in asking for a little more.

The regime also loves new technologies - when it serves them. This page was made to supplement my claim (and run the risk of an audit) because information that the regime wanted was never asked of me in their much-touted online reporting system. Mobility rights that are guaranteed under the Charter could be exercised by EI recipients if they use the internet to keep in touch with their job searches, but doing so is verboten to the state, who prefer to keep the unemployed under what amounts to house arrest.

Don't go anywhere, don't do anything, don't make waves: one of Stephen Harper or Gordon Campbell's corporate pals might be calling with a Training Wage punch in the dignity just for you, and you know you don't want to miss that!