Thank you, Mr. Chair, and my thanks to our witnesses.
In your comments, Mr. Wiersema, you mentioned Parliament's attention to significant changes to the accounts for the employment insurance program as a result of amendments to the Employment Insurance Act. One such amendment was the closure of the employment insurance account, which at one time had a surplus of $57 billion. It only had a tracking system but not an account. It would appear to me that the government had a prerogative to open a new account. Once the $57 billion was siphoned off, you would need to set up another account.
You also said that it now has a deficit of $4 billion. I'm wondering why there is a deficit, how that happened, and what the new rates are going to become. When we come out of this recession, we will require an account reflective of the needs of EI.