Mr. Speaker, frankly, it is the height of absurdity to claim, as the hon. member has just done, that under the unemployment insurance program, where people have paid premiums, we have no responsibility of helping to pay benefits. The reason people pay premiums is so we can pay benefits. That is the whole purpose of the program.
Furthermore, the system has worked effectively in the past because we have the ability to share that responsibility across the country so that people who pay premiums in one part of the country can help pay benefits in another part of the country where there are higher levels of unemployment. That is the genius of the system. In this country we have learned to share from region to region and not isolate ourselves behind a wall.