Thousands of Trinity-Spadina residents joined Olivia for a vivid telephone town hall covering a wide array of topics.

The Average length for cancer treatment in Canada: nine months. But EI benefits are only provided for 15 weeks for medical treatments. This gap pushes thousands of Canadians into severe debt, sometimes financial ruin every year. MP Olivia Chow is proposing to extend coverage to a year – like other countries.

Globe and Mail Article Investigates Ramifications of Harper Government EI Service Slashing February 2, 2012 OTTAWA – The secretive Office for Client Satisfaction where jobless Canadians can launch complaints about the handling of their employment insurance claims is not so secret any more. New documents released this week by the Conservative government show that the [...]

Olivia’s op-ed on how to make transit more accessible for jobless individuals: By offering a transit discount for Canada’s 1.4 million unemployed, finding a job will be easier and faster.

Lack of mobility is a hurdle faced by many jobless people in their search for employment. NDP Transport Critic Olivia Chow is proposing a Federal program to offer discounted transit passes to jobseekers – an idea that she presented at Toronto’s “Steal This Idea!” event.

Even though the Conservatives deny it, too many Canadians are out of work.

Parliament adopted a New Democrat motion calling on the prime minister to improve Employment Insurance: • Reduce the number of work hours needed to qualify for benefits. • Fully include self-employed workers in the program. • Raise the benefit rate to a reasonable level. • Eliminate the waiting period before benefits begin. “Our motion will [...]

More flowers and playground equipment in local parks and playgrounds, a spectacular bat cave at the Royal Ontario Museum, revitalizing Union Station, getting rid of lead pipes to deliver drinking water, upgrading the TTC — these are projects that create jobs and build our community. These projects have been made possible with federal funding, cost-sharing [...]

Olivia Chow, MP (Trinity-Spadina), is calling for the government to end its indifference and show real leadership to help newcomers find good jobs.

Contents: 1. $1 billion for the unemployed 2. Afghanistan: we need a roadmap for peace 3. Update on the 8% HST tax grab 4. Conservatives continue to short change Canadians on credit card reform 5. Visitor visas: all are welcome but some are more welcome than others 6. MP Olivia Chow takes Conservatives to task [...]

While the Conservatives and Liberals threaten each other and play partisan political games, Olivia Chow and the New Democrats are committed to making Parliament work. Families across Canada are still coping with the recession and struggling to make ends meet. There are 1.6 million Canadians who are unemployed and economists agree that job losses will [...]

Youth Crime Prevention and Employment Strategy Briefing Document

Last week, Toronto NDP MP Olivia Chow held a town hall meeting to inform her constituents about what was going on with the budget and to brainstorm. SOURCE