Mr. Speaker, the last calculation was a little tricky, but I will try to understand it.
I can assure you that the shift from unemployment to employment insurance reflects the new economy we referred to earlier. The hon. member for Mercier should realize that, instead of the passive measures favoured in the past, by the year 2000-which you mentioned-we will have reinvested $2.7 billion in active measures so that Canadians can receive the training they need to join the labour force.
Thanks to this EI reform, an additional 500,000 Canadians will now be eligible to receive benefits, that is to say, 500,000 Canadians who were not previously covered by unemployment insurance will now qualify. These people include part time workers and women from Montreal's east end, which you know very well, my hon. friend from Mercier.