Working Canadians and their employers were gouged to the tune of $57 billion to create a fund for a storm like the one we experienced, and the money wasn't there just when we needed lower payroll taxes to stimulate the economy and get people back to work. Because the money had been taken, all of a sudden we have higher and higher payroll taxes. The credit is a very worthy stopgap. The fact is, if the money hadn't been taken by previous governments, then it wouldn't be necessary.
The Canada pension plan has the confidence of Canadians because there are assets behind it. The money hasn't been taken by government for other purposes. Anyone can go online and see what their entitlement is because those funds, the funds of theirs and their employers, are put into an account in their name.
The amount of over $4,000 a year for a working couple is being siphoned out of their net worth and then shipped to pay for these EI programs. You could do a lot to rebuild the balance sheets of Canadians and deal with the personal debt problem by putting EI into a CPP-style rainy day fund.