Mr. Speaker, the hon. member raised the issue of the government's using the UI fund to move toward a balanced budget or reduce the deficit. Had the member been in the House earlier this day he would have heard the Minister of Human Resources Development explain that it was just this past December that the UI fund actually moved into a surplus position. That is because of the significant deficit that was accumulated during the last recession. The member might want to check those facts again.
He also talked about the infrastructure program and indicated that $6 billion was simply spent. He elaborated that this is really not a very good use of the government's money. However, the member did not comment on the savings Canadian taxpayers have achieved by not having to pay UI out to those people who are working on infrastructure projects.
He did not comment on the fact these people are paying income tax and contributing to the payroll taxes which ensure we have a secure system. There is also a ripple effect of those programs throughout the economy. Clearly the infrastructure program had a tremendous impact on jobs, which is really the issue I wanted to raise with the member.
He will know that on March 8 Statistics Canada reported that 44,000 new jobs were created in February following the creation of 44,000 jobs in January and 49,000 jobs in December of 1995. That is a total of 137,000 new jobs created in the last three months alone, some 82,000 being full time. Even better, that means more than 600,000 new jobs have been created by the government since it took office in November 1993.
Does the member not really believe that even Quebec has benefited from the responsible fiscal management of the government?