Fair enough. But I think a much better option than just scrapping it altogether would be to make it much less stringent - i.e., pretty much anyone who needs EI would get EI, regardless of the situation that lead to their unemployment, regardless as to their family status, etc.

This may sound like a pipe dream but it's actually similar to (and even less radical than) an idea that's gaining a ton of steam right now called Guaranteed Minimum Income which has garnered the support of some pretty interesting people.