Feds extend EI pilot for unemployed workers affected by U.S. tariffs

The federal government is extending three temporary employment insurance (EI) measures aimed at workers who have lost jobs because of U.S. tariffs.

In a release on Friday, the government said an EI pilot project launched in March 2025 would extend beyond April 2026, to October 2026.

The EI project waives the usual one-week EI waiting period; doesn’t require claimants to first exhaust employer payments such as severance, as is typically required; and provides 20 additional weeks of regular benefits for long-tenured workers, who may require more time to find work.

Recently, changes introduced in March 2025 to the work-sharing program were extended to March 31, 2027, to allow more businesses and employees to participate in the program.

In February, the unemployment rate increased 0.2 percentage points to 6.7%.

The unemployment rate was virtually unchanged from 12 months earlier when it was 6.6%, Statistics Canada said, and remained below the recent high of 7.1% reached in August and September 2025.

Among the 1.5 million people who were unemployed in February, 22.8% were in long-term unemployment, meaning they had been continuously searching for work for 27 weeks or more.

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