It's a system that has Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff confused.

In his push for one national standard for Employment Insurance, he tells the story of an unnamed waiter who works on Parliament Hill:

"A waiter who works in the House of Commons is laid off during the summer," Ignatieff says. "He wants to go on EI. But he doesn't have enough numbers. He doesn't have enough hours.

James Fitz-Morris

"Why? Because he lives in Ottawa but not in Gatineau. If he lived in Gatineau, he'd qualify for EI. If he lives in Ottawa he doesn't. It's this kind of thing that is unsustainable. It's unjust and it's unfair."

The point Ignatieff is trying to make is that there are different qualitfication criteria for the unemployed depending on where they live. And the criteria, which is calculated every four weeks, is based on local unemployment levels.

The higher the unemployment level in your area, the easier it is to get benefits and the longer they last.

Since there are 58 of these economic regions across the country, it is not uncommon for people to live in one region but work (and lose their job) in another. Such is often the case in neighbouring cities like Ottawa and Gatineau.

But the problem with Ignatieff's example is that Ottawa's unemployment level is actually higher than that of Gatineau right now, according to Statistics Canada, and has been for a while.

Ottawa's unemployment rate stands at 6.2 per cent. That means that someone here needs at least 665 hours of work in the previous year to qualify for EI.

In Gatineau (or Hull, as the economic region is still called) unemployment is at 5.4 per cent. One needs 700 hours to qualify there.

In January, Ottawa's unemployment rate was 4.6 per cent while Gatineau's was 4.4.

— James Fitz-Morris