Minister of Development and Rural Renewal, Judy Foote, today expressed concern with respect to the manner in which the federal government is treating individuals as they exit the TAGS program in terms of their status under the new Employment Insurance Act.

Human Resources Development Canada has advised the province that individuals exiting TAGS who do not have a labour market attachment will be treated as new entrants to the labour force and will require 26 weeks of work to qualify for Employment Insurance benefits. If the individuals had an attachment to the labour market, which they did before the federally imposed groundfish moratorium, the qualifying period would be 12 weeks under present rules.

"This approach is unacceptable and unfair to the individuals concerned," said the minister. "Clearly, those who now receive TAGS had an attachment to the labour market prior to the moratorium and were displaced from their jobs as a direct result of the federal government's decision to close the groundfish fishery. Given that TAGS was conceived as a transitional or bridging program for those affected by the moratorium, the province finds it difficult to understand the basis for not considering all TAGS clients as having a bona-fide attachment to the labour market for purposes of qualifying for EI benefits."

"I have written the federal Minister of Human Resources Development Canada, Pierre Peddigrew, to formally express those concerns," continued Ms. Foote," and I have asked him, on behalf of the province, to consider all TAGS clients as having an attachment to the labour market for purposes of their treatment under the EI Act."

Beginning in May 1996 and continuing through to the end of 1998, approximately 27,000 individuals in the province will exit TAGS.

Contact: Susan Laite, (709) 729-4570.