tl;dr DTMFA

These "breaks" are an excuse to fuck somebody else.

I have no idea what I just read. He "claimed redundancy"?

Kids today...

@3 - Yeah, I have no idea.

"Well, of course I didn't call you yesterday, baby. I already called you last week. That would have just been pointless calling on top of calling."

Dump him. Okay, he already dumped you, but he did a 'stealth' dumping - that is he dumped you without actually telling you he dumped you. So dump him and tell him you are dumping him - and you will feel better for having acted instead of being the victim.

Wow, Dr. Brotto is right on. She's a keeper for all things substitute, Dan!

@3: About a month later he claims redundancy.

I think he means that LW is redundant with his other girlfriend.

"I still care about him and want to be with him."

Seems entirely at odds with him not caring about you or wanting to be with you.

@3: Well, he did effectively fire her from girlfriend duties.

This letter could be from the UK, or maybe BC is even more British than I remember. When someone in the UK is laid off, they're "made redundant". And since these countries are not savage dystopiæ, that person can then "claim" unemployment benefits. I'm not sure what I read either, but I'm guessing the boyfriend was laid off from his job and "claimed redundancy", or as they used to say "went on the dole".

While this would give him lots of extra time to pursue other women during the "break", he'll have less money for dating expenses. And if Canada is anything like the US (which is questionable, given the above), this will make him less attractive to women.

I don't know what "claimed redundancy" means either. Unless @10 is right. That makes more sense than anything.

The guy's a douche. Dump his ass.

Is the LW a woman? The signature is CUB.

@12: Correct, I sometimes see a gender mentioned in the comments and forget it's not present in the letter.

Honestly, I have no clue what "exclusivity" has to do with "being friends". His ex-boyfriend seems to just enjoy having a fallback, I guess.

I think 13 nails it, unless "claims redundancy" is a UK shorthand for "no longer has the money to go out." Barring that, this is another "I got dumped in a way that's supposed to make me sit around being somebody's backup plan" situation.
LW: The way out is to take "no" to mean "no," and move on with your life. It might seem like you want to go back to where you were, but they've showed you there's nothing there worth having.