Madam Speaker, he admits that there is a surplus. Everyone knows that, as far as UI is concerned, the government collects more than it spends.
He also told us at the beginning of his speech that this surplus would be used for current expenditures, for deficit reduction. That is what I cannot understand. He admits to a UI surplus and, in the same breath, tells us that this surplus will be used to reduce the deficit. It is not clear.
I would like him to try once again to answer me if he can. I myself cannot understand, and I think no one can, when they talk about putting the money in the consolidated revenue fund and then use it for current expenditures, for running a surplus. We know the government is trying to reduce the deficit. If it is trying to reduce the deficit, then it cannot run a surplus since it uses this money for current expenditures. I do not understand, and it is hard to understand.
I would also like to know what the Minister of Finance has done to eliminate duplication. We know that Quebec is in the midst of a debate on manpower training, among other things, but we are fully aware that duplication between Quebec and Ottawa costs a total of some $2.5 billion to $3 billion a year. We also know full well that, by eliminating duplication with the other provinces, we would probably save $10 billion a year.
I wonder if the government has done enough to eliminate duplication to deserve our support for a loan or the disposition of the money. We may not agree to approve a working capital if the government has not made every effort to ensure that this money is managed as efficiently as possible.
Studies have been done on the most efficient way of managing money, and duplication is said to be extremely costly. There is now a wide consensus in Quebec that manpower training should be concentrated in that province. We know that we could save a lot of money. The government could save money and we would be much more efficient.
We would be much more efficient mainly because our workers would be better qualified. Our economy could be more efficient and our employees would be more efficient.
Not only would we save money by eliminating duplication, but we could be more efficient at the same time. We would have a more efficient economy, which would mean greater earning power in terms of government revenue. The taxpayers would pay higher taxes, businesses would make higher profits, and so on.
Has the government done all that could be done to make the entire government machinery more efficient? If that were the case, it would not be coming to us all the time to ask for extravagant amounts, like $18.7 billion, to cover current expenditures and have us believe, as the minister did in his speech, that taxes are not being raised when they are dipping into the UI fund to replenish the current account. In addition, the government is asking for higher and higher services charges.
They say there will be no tax increases, but at the same time they are charging more and more for services that the federal government is supposed to give or provide using the taxes it has collected. The government is increasing service charges. Those are taxes in disguise. I would like to hear the minister on this point.
How much did he increase service charges last year, for example, for the people of Canada? It would be important to know how much more Canadians are paying, perhaps not in raised taxes but in increased service charges. It would be very important to know that.