Industry loves the government paying EI to workers. Of course we won't object. Extended EI does work for both the community and the industry because it allows us to keep our worker base in place for a longer period of time during transformation.
Like you, I end up having conversations with mayors all the time, and I get approached by individual parliamentarians facing a mill shutdown and asking what can be done. I just want to emphasize--and I know I'm beginning to repeat myself, but I'm going to repeat myself--that there's nothing we can suggest once the mill has been proven to be losing $10 million or $15 million a year. We suggest that you act on business climate before that happens. Don't come to us to ask how to prevent this closure after the failure; prevent the failure by creating market conditions that draw investment.
I've been here six years now and I've had this conversation over and over again. The answer to mill closures is not to come in when a mill is closing; the answer to mill closures is to come in and create the market conditions that will lead people to invest. Then we'll never have to have the conversation about the mill closing.
I wish there were pixie dust or some sort of tooth-fairy formula for pretending the global marketplace doesn't exist, but short of pixie dust there's nothing we can do except create a business climate that draws investment.