Liberal leadership contender Karina Gould promises EI reforms, universal basic income as PM [Video]

Federal Liberal leadership candidate Karina Gould says she would widen the eligibility for Canada’s employment insurance system, and introduce a universal basic income program if she becomes the country’s next prime minister.

Gould said Canada’s current EI program isn’t working for everyone, with payments that take too long to be processed and requirements that leave some seasonal and contract workers without support.

“There are many people who don’t qualify for EI,” the Burlington, Ont. MP said Thursday during a stop in Fredericton as part of her leadership campaign.

“Maybe they haven’t made up the number of hours, and the number of hours is inconsistent across the country. And again, [it is] a system that was created for the work world of the 1980s and the 1990s, and not one of 2025.”

Gould said she’d bring forward her plan to “modernize” the EI regime within a year of her becoming prime …