小弟得到一个Contract的职位（6个月），对方的HUMAN RESOURSE MANAGER说有可能EXTENDED到12个月，甚至转为PERMANENT。请问：CONTRACT和PERMANENT有哪些不同？是否CONTRACT没有福利，也不能作为将来申请EI的计算工时？

我应该怎样向对方询问呢？

It depends. If your salary has EI contribution, you can have EI after laid off, whatever contract or permanent. But one thing is common, that is contract has no benefit, like medical insurance for dentist and medicine expenses.