Mr. Speaker, the jury is still out on the UI issue. We are reforming it. I do not believe the measure undertaken by the government with regard to what he called gifts has anything to do with UI.
When the UI fund is underfunded the money has to be found by the government. It is strange that we are trying to restructure it and other members think we should spend the money in some other way.
With regard to the member's other question, the government looked at 20 alternatives to the replacement tax. The accommodation it came up with was the best one. There is some dislocation with regard to these provinces. They have a small population base. We are still a country and we still have equalization payments. Provinces that do better under these circumstances have an obligation to transfer some of their funds to get the other provinces going.
The government is trying to get government right. We believe through the moves we have made that we will have more jobs and be more competitive. We will wean those provinces off that money over a period of time.