Mr. Speaker, last Friday, in response to a question from the Bloc Quebecois, the Minister of Human Resources Development announced a 20 cent reduction in EI premium rates, which represents a $1.4 billion reduction in the approximately $7 billion annual fund surplus. In our view, the reduction could have been larger.
Could the minister act on the second part of the Bloc Quebecois' recommendation that he use a significant proportion of the annual surplus of several billions to increase protection for the unemployed, who have been reduced to poverty by the reform?