Mr. Speaker, there may be no argument about the question of getting the fiscal situation in order and bringing down the deficit. It is a question of how you want to do it. The Reform Party says the only way to do it is to cut all kinds of expenditures which would throw tens of thousands of Canadians out of work. That is what they are talking about. They are saying we did not go far enough. We have members here who are saying that we went too far.
They are saying that the kind of Draconian measures proposed by the Reform Party would have the unemployment rate in this country going up to 13 per cent, 14 per cent, 15 per cent. We are saying that the only way to ultimately bring down the deficit is to get Canadians back to work, get them back creating revenue for their families. Get them off unemployment insurance. Get them back paying taxes. The responsibility of the government is to provide the stimulus to do that, to create a climate in which government can give a signal, a message to the private sector that the hard days are over and that they should get back and create work.
In my speech I asked: What is one of the important signals? By reducing unemployment insurance premiums from a projected statutory rate of $3.30, it brings it down to $3 which for every company of 100 employees puts $30,000 back in the pocket of the employer; it puts $80 to $100 back in the pocket of the employee. That employee can go out and buy a kitchen table or his kid's shoes. That is how we are going to create deficit reduction, not by the cut and slash program-