VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 4 (UPI) -- Canadian Liberal party leader Michael Ignatieff says if the country's unemployed aren't better treated, he's willing to force a summer election.
At the party's weekend convention in Vancouver, British Columbia, the former Harvard University professor said the existing Employment Insurance program is too complex and has too many variables for the growing number of unemployed, the Toronto Star reported.
"I'm trying to protect these unemployed workers across the country who badly need help and if the government will work with me, we can get it done," Ignatieff said Sunday. "If they won't, we'll have to have an election."
The EI system that pays unemployed people has 54 different sets of eligibility criteria, based on where a person lives, the jobless rates in the region and the number of hours a person worked.
"It seems unfair to Canadians that if you pay into the thing, your eligibility depends on where you live," Ignatieff said.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority Conservative government is scheduled to give its report on the state of the country next month.
If the Liberals, socialist New Democratic Party and separatist Bloc Quebecois were to force a non-confidence vote, the country would face an election.
