Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance.
In his economic update yesterday, before the finance committee, the minister finally admitted that his government is putting the unemployment insurance fund surplus into the consolidated revenue fund, along with the other federal revenues and expenditures, and will continue to do so, rather than in a distinct reserve fund as the Minister of Labour claims. This admission leads to another, that his deficit for the current year is being lowered artificially with the U.I. account surplus.
Under these circumstances, will the Minister of Finance admit that, because he is taking five billion dollars out of the U.I. account this year, the real federal deficit for the current year is therefore not $32.7 billion but $37.7 billion?