Mr. Speaker, the member raises an excellent question, one that I am sure we could debate on all day.
The first thing that springs to my mind is that whenever government gives something, it first had to take something away.
I am going to try to answer this question to the very best of my ability. I am not going to dance around it. If government had not been involved in unemployment insurance in the first place, if it was an agreement between the employer and the employee, probably the rate would have been down around $1.50. There would never have been a need for it to be raised in the first place so that it can be lowered at budget time.
I think that should probably suffice the hon. member.