Justin Trudeau says employment insurance changes will be 'monitored and reviewed'

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised that changes being made to the unemployment insurance program will be carefully monitored and reviewed to make sure they are helping the people hit hardest by the economic downturn.

The prime minister made the comments following a roundtable session with several unemployed workers in Calgary.

"We all sat down together and had a really good conversation, a really honest conversation," he said.

He said his government is committed to helping Alberta, a province that has contributed greatly to the national economy and now finds itself in hard times.

The federal budget tabled last weekincludeschanges that would temporarily enhance benefits in some regions, granting up to 70 weeks of coverage to long-tenured employees in 12 regions with high unemployment.

Trudeau has facedcriticism of hisgovernment's decision to boostEI benefits for parts of the country while leavingsome hard-hit areas of the oilpatch out of the budget plan.

The government has said it picked 12 regions that needed the mosthelp with extra weeks of EI benefits for jobless workersincluding parts ofAlberta as well asNewfoundland and Labrador,northern British Columbia, northern Manitoba,northern Ontario, northern Saskatchewan, Whitehorse and Nunavut.

Calgary was on the list but Edmonton was left off, as were parts of Saskatchewan.

The12 regions hadwhat Finance Minister BillMorneau described as "sharp increases in unemployment that have been sustained," or what the budget describes as a two per cent increase in unemployment rates over a three-month period over the last year "without showing significant signs of recovery."

University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe says the federal government had to draw the line somewhere, leaving some regions out of its enhanced EI provisions.But the way Ottawa came up with its list was a little subjective, headded.

"So it's not a very clear formula that you could just punch in numbers to and get an answer to," said Tombe.

Trudeautold reporters that the effect of the changes will be closely monitored and reviewed to ensure that regions most in need of assistance receive it.

Trudeau'sagenda in Calgaryincluded theroundtable discussion at theKerbyCentre, which wasfollowed by amedia availability.Later in the afternoonTrudeauwas set to meetwith officials at the Thomas Riley Building atSAITPolytechnic.