Mr. Speaker, as the commission's chief actuary said, the accumulated surplus will amount to at least $5 billion a year, whereas during the worst of the recession, when benefits were higher and more unemployed people had access to unemployment insurance, it was close to $6 billion. This increase makes no sense at all.
Since what really matters is employment, will the minister admit that, beyond his fine-sounding words, Canada's citizens are in fact poorer according to Statistics Canada, as the real disposable income per person has dropped by more than $1,000 since 1989? Will he admit that Canadians have become poorer?