Mr. Speaker, I met the Minister of Finance several times this week.
I am very pleased to tell the House that rates will be reduced from $2.90 in 1997 to $2.70 on January 1, 1998, meaning that we are going to accelerate the process in order to introduce on January 1, 1998 the rate we had forecast for 1999.
This is the fourth year in a row that this government has lowered EI premium rates.