1.0 Definitions

1.1 In this Agreement, unless the context requires otherwise, "Act" means Canada's Employment Insurance Act, S.C. 1996, c.23;

"active EI claimant" means an individual for whom an employment insurance benefit period is established under the Act;

"annual business plan" means an annual plan, to be completed by each Regional Committee for Labour Market Development and approved by the Management Committee, outlining the policy objectives to be attained, the employment benefits and support measures to be delivered, programs and services to be offered by the Labour Market Partners, funding allocations to be allocated to each program and service, and mechanisms and strategies to be used in implementation of the employment benefits and support measures;

"Canada/Newfoundland Administrative Agreement for Co-location Projects" refers to the agreement entered into between the Labour Market Partners on January 4,1996 that provides for the co-location of Career Information Resource Centres at the St. John's, Clarenville, Corner Brook and Happy Valley-Goose Bay HRCCs, and the establishment of a Client Service Centre at the Gander HRCC;

"Canada/Newfoundland Agreement on the Exchange of Information" refers to the agreement entered into between the Labour Market Partners on October 25, 1996 that provides for the exchange of client information between HRDC and Newfoundland and Labrador for administration purposes and for research and evaluation;

"clients" means the employed, the unemployed, the under-employed, including older workers, youth, social assistance recipients, and persons who are members of a designated group under Canada's Employment Equity Act; "Commission" means the Canada Employment Insurance Commission;

"co-location" means the placement of federal and provincial offices in a single location, either physically in the same building or through common front-end arrangements;

"economic zone" refers to one of the twenty (20) geographic areas into which Newfoundland and Labrador has been divided for purposes of citizen-led regional economic planning and implementation;

"EI client" ("insured participant") means an unemployed person who, when requesting assistance under an employment benefit, 

a. is an active EI claimant, or
b. had a benefit period that ended within the previous 36 months, or
c. had a benefit period established for him/her within the previous 60 months     and

i. was paid parental or maternity benefits under the Employment Insurance  Act or the former Unemployment Insurance Act,

ii. subsequently withdrew from the labour force to care for one or more of their new-born children or one or more children placed with them for the purpose of adoption, and

iii. is seeking to re-enter the labour force;

"employment benefit" means the following programs established by the Commission under section 59 of the Act to enable EI clients to obtain employment:

a.  the Targeted Wage Subsidies Benefit
b.  the Targeted Earnings Supplements Benefit
c.  the Self-Employment Assistance Benefit
d.  the Job Creation Partnerships Benefit, and
e.  the Purchase of Training Benefit,

as modified from time to time by the Labour Market Partners pursuant to the co-management arrangements established under this Agreement, and such new benefits (including the proposed Skills Loans and Grants Benefit referred to in section 5.2), as from time to time may be established on the recommendation of the Management
Committee for implementation in Newfoundland and Labrador;

"HRDC" means Canada's Department of Human Resources Development;

"fiscal year" means the period commencing on April 1 of any year and terminating on March 31 of the immediately following year;

"Management Committee" means the committee established under section 4.1 to oversee the administration and implementation of this Agreement;

"National Employment Service" means the national employment service maintained by the Commission under section 60 of the Act to provide information on employment opportunities across Canada to help workers find suitable employment and help employers find suitable workers, including the provision of labour market information, labour exchange services, service needs determination, and employment counselling;

"Provincial employment programs" means wage subsidy, wage supplementation and self-employment assistance programs funded and delivered by the provincial signatory departments to this Agreement;

"Regional Committee for Labour Market Development" means a committee established by the Management Committee under paragraph 4.4(b);

"Regional Economic Development Board" means a democratically selected, incorporated, volunteer board representative of major economic stakeholders (including regional economic development organizations, business, labour, communities, education and training institutions, and others as appropriate) in an economic zone which is responsible for the development of a strategic economic plan for its region;

"support measure" means the following programs established by the Commission under subsection 60(4) of the Act:

a. the Employment Assistance Services Support Measure to support organizations that provide employment assistance services to unemployed persons,

b. the Labour Market Partnerships Support Measure to support employers, employee or employer associations, community groups and communities in developing and implementing strategies for dealing with labour force adjustments and meeting human resource requirements, and

c. the Research and Innovation Support Measure to support research and innovative projects to identify better ways of helping persons prepare for, return to or keep employment and be productive participants in the labour force, as modified from time to time by the Labour Market Partners pursuant to the co-management arrangements established under this Agreement and such new support measures as, from time to time, may be established under the Act upon the recommendation of the Management Committee.