I will go back, if you'll forgive me, to basic principles.
The purpose of the employment insurance program isn't to provide income for people from time to time. It's to provide income to people when they're out of work, when they're down on their luck, when things haven't gone well for them. That's what it's there for. Being in government and being a minister and being in the cabinet, it seems to me that we have to remind ourselves that that's the purpose of the fund. The provinces run social assistance funds. I was a provincial finance minister; I know how much it costs. But I think we have to be careful to remember the purpose of the fund. If we can use it...and with the job grant program, I think we will be able to use it to retrain people and make sure people can match the jobs that are available in this country.
I met with one of our western premiers a couple of weeks ago. He told me how awkward he felt flying to Europe to hire people to come and work in western Canada when he was flying over parts of our country with double-digit unemployment. I'm all for people retraining, and I'm all for people working.