Mr. Speaker, there are two inaccuracies in what we have just been told. First, the surplus accumulated in the unemployment insurance fund is not put aside for a rainy day, to help the growing ranks of the unemployed in a recession. Rather, it is being spent by the Minister of Finance to reduce his deficit. A bit of exaggeration is fine, but let us not get carried away here.
Second, the new employment insurance program in place since January will take $1 billion in benefits away from the unemployed. Is that what you call helping the unemployed through bad times? My foot. Normally, the response ought to come from the Minister of Human Resources Development. We can see, however, that they bring in a supposedly senior minister when there are real questions.
Since they are wasting the unemployment insurance surplus on deficit reduction, what exactly are they going to do to show the Minister of Finance in a good light? What are they going to do when there is a recession, and the number of unemployed workers is even higher than today? Are they going to increase the deficit? Are they going to dump responsibilities onto the provinces or increase-