North Cowichan’s mayor wants the federal government to extend its temporary Employment Insurance program to include workers at the Crofton pulp mill who will be working until mid-April. In letters to Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu and Jeff Kibble, MP for Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, Rob Douglas said the temporary EI measures that Ottawa introduced last summer in response to major economic conditions across the country, including mill closures, are set to expire on April 11. That’s just three days before approximately 60 workers, who are being maintained at the Crofton mill for operational considerations beyond its closure in early February, will receive their layoff notices on April 14. …Douglas said that, on behalf of the community, he is requesting that the federal government extend the temporary EI measures or implement an exemption mechanism to ensure that all Crofton mill workers affected by the closure are treated equitably.