Topic and Case Specific: The topic I have chosen is the impact that the shift to neoliberal government policies has had on workers in Canada. I chose to explore this topic by examining the restructuring of unemployment insurance in the neoliberal era of the 1990s, when it came to be called employment insurance (McBride, 2005, p. 90). Tentative thesis: I am going to argue that the transition from Keynesian-based unemployment insurance to neoliberal employment insurance has had a negative impact on workers in Canada. Tentative answers to the questions asked related to my topic: 1. Has this policy increased or decreased the power and quality of life of workers? The restructuring of unemployment insurance has significantly diminished the power and quality of life of workers. Primarily, this is because it has become more difficult to qualify, for example with the increase in working hours from 15 hours a week to 35 to qualify for coverage (McBride, 2005, p. 92). New workers, part-time workers and women, who held part-time jobs more often than men, suffered significantly from this change (McBride, 2005, p. 92). This negatively affects workers because, when they are not protected from unemployment, they cannot always afford the basic necessities they need to live. Additionally, because workers have a harder time getting help to support themselves if unemployed, employers have much more power in the workplace. Employers know that workers are more likely to stay on the job even if circumstances are less than ideal. Second, benefits were reduced in the new program (McBride, 2005, p. 92). This meant that even if you managed to qualify, which was hard enough, the insurance proceeds would become less than… half the paper… Social Policies and Practices in Canada. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.Lin, Z. (1998). Employment Insurance in Canada: Recent Trends and Policy Changes. Canadian Economic Observer, 11(7).McBride, S. (2005). Neoliberalism and Canadian politics. Paradigm shift: globalization and the Canadian state. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.McBride, S., Shields, J. (1997). The post-war Canadian state. Dismantle a nation. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.Porter, A. (2003). Consolidating neoliberal reforms: globalization, multi-income families and the erosion of state support for the unemployed. Gendered States: Women, Unemployment Insurance, and the Political Economy of the Welfare State in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Steger, M. B. (2003). The economic dimension of globalization. Globalization: a very brief introduction. London: Oxford University Press.