HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2002-03-27, Page 6FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA
"SMALL WEEKS"- A SUCCESSFUL PILOT PROJECT
Now a permanent feature of Employment Insurance (El)
The Government of Canada has taken an approach to small weeks of work
that will especially benefit people who work part-time or have temporary work;
this may result in increased El payments to claimants.
Small week of work — earnings of less than si5o
Regular week of work— earnings of more than $1.5o
Sometimes the amount you earn can vary from one week to another.
For example, one week you may earn $220, the next week s80.
This lesser week of work can lower your El benefit rate.
When you qualify for .El and we calculate your benefit rate, we will,
where possible, ignore the small weeks completely or take only the best
of your small weeks and add them to your regular weeks. This will result in
your benefit payment being higher than you would otherwise have received.
IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER:
• All insurable hours will still be used for eligibility purposes
even if they are not used to calculate your benefit rate;
• El claimants must-continue to report all earnings while
receiving El benefits;
• Earnings allowed while on claim are still sso per week or 25%
of your weekly benefit rate (whichever is higher);
• Employers must continue to remit El premiums on every dollar paid
and complete Records of Employment as usual.
for information on Small Weeks
e 1 800 0-Canada (1 Boo 622-6232)
TTY/TDD devices: 1800 465-7735
• www.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/ei
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PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2002.
On the road
As of Monday March 25, Road Watch Huron
was up and running. The program is intended to
allow citizens to aid the OPP in promoting road
safety by reporting incidents of unsafe driving.
Cutting a cake, not a ribbon, to get things
underway were, from left: Linda Stobo, Huron
County Health Unit, project co-ordinator; Sandra
Lawson, county engineer for Huron; and,
Marguerite Thomas, chairperson, Road Watch
Huron. (David Blaney photo)
HU director stresses grog.
about working together
NH wants slogan
Continued from page 1
The third time a vehicle is
reported the owner will
receive a visit from an OPP
officer. All incidents will be
plotted to try to identify traffic
'hot spots' for further
enforcement.
Penny Nelligan, director of
the Huron County Health Unit
stressed the community
nature of the initiative saying,
"The program exemplifies
what can be achieved when a
community comes together to
address a situation."
This theme was also
stressed by Huron County
Warden Ben Van Diepenbeek
who said the program was an
"example of Huron County
families working. together to
say that dangerous driving is
not acceptable."
Marguerite Thomas,
chairperson of the Huron
program.said that they hope to
get people thinking about how
Continued from page 1
$62,000 over the 2001
expenses.
A large increase in
insurance premiums accounts
for $27,000 of the higher
figure. Compulsory
contributions to the
government employees
pension plan will add over
$6,000. An increase in the
advertising budget to retlect
the difficulty of
communicating with
ratepayers in the expanded
municipality will add another
$5,000 according to Knight's
estimates.
The figures presented in the
initial draft budget are staff
they are driving and modify
unacceptable habits. She said
that •85 per cent of accidents
are caused by people taking
undue risks.
Both OPP Unit Commander
Gary Martin and Sr. Const.
Don Shropshall cited speed as
a major factor in the number
and severity of accidents in
Huron County. There were
1,249 motor vehicle
collisions in 2000, a 47 per
cent increase over the
previous year.
Shropshall acknowledged
the program could not stop
speeding.
He suggested, however, that
a reduction of the speed at
which people travell would
have a significant effect on
reducing the severity of
accidents.
The confidential drop boxes
and reporting forms are
available at several locations
in Brussels and Blyth.
estimates. Council will be
reviewing each area and
budget figures may change as
councillors determine
municipal priorities for the
coming year.
Council has informally
adopted a goal of restricting
increases to 2.5 to three per
cent in this budget. There
have been discussions
however of a slightly larger
increase to allow the
municipality to start to
accumulate capital reserves.
ci Please Recycle
4Nic 411 This Newspaper
Continued from page 3
but it's a little too late."
Clerk-Administrator John
Stewart was authorized to
reply in writing to Gibbons's
concerns.
***
It is hoped that a decision
on the OPP prififoosal for the
municipality will be received
within two weeks.
***
A tender from Frontline
Environmental, the lowest of
two, in the amount of$98,084
plus GST was accepted for a
hydrogeologic study of the
Wingham and Blyth wells.
***
Council supported a
resolution from Huron East
asking county council to act
on the recommendations
contained in the Hugh
Thomas Report.
A resolution from Stratford
asking the province to enact
legislation requiring
producers to reduce the
packaging of goods at the
source of their distribution
and retailers to take back
packaging materials was also
endorsed.
Support was given as well
to a resolution from the City
of Brantford asking the
Ministry of Health and Long-
Term Care to develop
mechanisms to allow nurse
practitioners to practise as
members of an
interdisciplinary team or
independently to the full
extent of their licence and
scope of practice.
A resolution from the
County of Brant received
council's endorsement. This
one is asking the Ministry of
the Environment to reconsider
the proposed legislation to
recongize that unusual
circumstances will occur and
that a framewdrk be provided
which allows for the
extension of deadlines,
operating conditions, etc.
without fear of monetary
penalties when these matters
are of a non-critical nature.
***
The economic development
committee is currently
working on identifying the
strengths of North Huron, on
what the municipality has to
offer. They are also publishing
a brochure.
The committee is
sponsoring a slogan contest
for North Huron.
Two for one
Christina Eckert's colour poster was awarded a
first at both Zone and District in the Legion's
Remembrance Day poster competition for
Grades 1-3. Crystal Taylor, Blyth Legion
president and youth education chair was
pleased that two local students received awards
in the new category as she had pushed hard for
its inclusion. (Bonnie Gropp photo)
Insurance a big increase
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