Mr. Speaker, I listened to my colleague opposite, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance. I wanted to tell him that I had asked the Minister of Finance the following question:
The employment insurance fund has a surplus of $43 billion. Will the Finance Minister pick up the phone, call the Minister of Human Resources Development, and get the eligibility criteria for the employment insurance program modified?
I asked the question to the Minister of Finance because we know that the government has balanced its budget on the backs of the workers who have lost their jobs. We also know that ,year after year, the unemployment insurance fund has more than $7 billion. The minister said that he had balanced his budget and there was a zero deficit.
Does the Minister of Human Resources Development have the power to make changes to employment insurance, or does she need approval from the Minister of Finance?
If the Minister of Finance convinced the Prime Minister not to make changes to EI because he can balance his budget and attain a zero deficit, I think that it is fair to ask this question of him. It is, after all, the Minister of Finance who allocates the budgets.
My question was clear. It referred to one simple phone call by the Minister of Finance, saying that he was open to the idea of making changes to employment insurance. If these changes are presented, we, too, will support them.