Madam Chair, the hon. member has made a little error. We have been reducing the rate on unemployment insurance premiums for several years. That means employed workers and businesses are paying a lower rate.
There is an unemployment insurance fund which forms part of the public accounts of Canada. I suggest the hon. member check with the auditor general. We follow the rules of the auditor general. If the hon. member does not like the rules which have been set out to handle the public accounts of Canada, he should make suggestions in the appropriate committee when the matter comes up.
We will not know the exact numbers in the unemployment insurance account until we know how many people will be applying for and receiving unemployment insurance and until the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Human Resources Development set the new rate for this year, which will be done sometime this fall.
In the meantime, we have a planning number. The planning number will reach by the end of 1997, if the planning assumptions are correct, approximately $10 billion. That is a sum which can be used in the future. It can be used to help the unemployed during a recession. It will prevent the very serious situation of having to raise premiums in the middle of a recession, the last thing any government wants to do.
That is the reason for the fund's being there. If the hon. member would like to follow the items through the government accounting procedures, he is welcome to do so. They are quite open and clear procedures.