Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have been listening to a lot of the commentary, including that from the member for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour. He speaks a fair piece, no doubt about that, to the point where Mr. Lessard says he's highly comforted by the comments, but I would caution him not to lean on that too strongly when we look at the record.
The two-week waiting period, if you want to call it that, was there under 13 years of previous Liberal government, and I don't quite see that they would be about to change it if they were in office. In fact, many of the benefits were cut significantly during those years, and the excess that was in the general revenue was actually used by that government for purposes other than EI, so before you feel highly comforted, I would caution you that given all the history....
To come back to where we are today, I gather, Mr. Ouellet, that you estimate this would cost $1 billion a year, give or take. Is that correct?