Thank you, Madam Chair.
I'll thank Mr. Godin and Mr. Lessard while they're here. They made the case very well. Mr. Godin could be a very good witness for our bill. This new, independent, arm's-length entity has been put in place so that those kinds of abuses of the past won't happen again, where the EI surplus money was taken by governments and there were issues of either having to raise taxes or EI premiums. That was a problem, and that's why our government has moved and changed that. I need to get that on the record right off the top.
Mr. Lessard also said something to the effect that they're going to be taking the surplus in the future. But in reality—I think you know this, and can check on this—in the future any surplus in that arm's-length body, in those accounts, cannot be used by the government. So that will not be happening in the future. I need to make that very plain.
I wasn't really clear on the good questions of Raymonde Folco about the cost of the bill and the precise breakdown here. HRSDC has costed the 360-hour, 45-day work year at $4 billion per year. You're saying this bill will come in at about $3 billion. Am I understanding that correctly?
Mr. Lessard, HRSDC's costing is $4 billion, and it seems to me that your bill here is significantly more than that. So I'm not clear on your math or how you arrived at that. Can you give me something more in the way of your costing and how you intend to pay for this bill?