I'd be happy to.
In the past there were considerable surpluses in terms of the amount of money that was charged to employees and employers for EI premiums as opposed to how much was spent on benefits. There was a big gap, and over the years that surplus accumulated to around $50 billion.
That being said, it was recorded as a surplus, but the actual dollars, the cash, went into general government coffers and was spent on all kinds of other programs. It didn't go back into the EI program but it did get spent on benefits for Canadians. So the money no longer exists in a separate EI bank account, shall we say. It's only on paper. The money has actually come and gone and been spent under other names.
We have taken a number of measures to ensure that this doesn't happen again. The first is that each year new rates for the premiums are determined by actuaries along with the commissioner and others, based on the expected expenditures. What we want to do is make sure that the premiums charged match the expenditures so that there is no surplus and there is no shortage. We're doing it so that they match.
We're also getting more efficient--