What we are proposing with this amendment deals with rate changes. The minister under Bill C-4 would have the power to substitute in any year whatever rate he wanted for any reason he deemed to be in the public interest.
We think there should be some accountability that goes with that power. We're concerned that it opens the door to continuing politicization of premium rates and potential future abuse of the system to create surpluses to be used for non-EI purposes, which is the situation I just described with the $57 billion that Conservatives and Liberals used for balancing budgets and giving corporate tax cuts.
Our proposed amendment NDP-6 would require the minister to report to Parliament on the reasons for substituting a rate. If the minister wants to change the rate, he should have to, at a minimum, tell Canadians why he wants to change the rate, and what the impacts of the substituted rate would be compared with what was recommended by the EI commission. We believe this would bring much greater transparency, and with the EI funds that's greatly needed, given that it is moneys that come in from workers and employers across the country, and given the shocking history of abuse of the EI funds by successive governments.
We feel that if the minister is going to have these increased powers, which basically override the EI commission, which he has been disregarding anyway, that he should have to justify a substituted rate that he's recommending and say why this will have a positive impact versus the rate that the EI commission is recommending.
We think that greater transparency and accountability are what Canadians are looking for. I would urge my colleagues, especially in the Conservative Party, to vote in favour of accountability and transparency.