That is right, a Liberal. My goodness, imagine a fellow Liberal criticizing the EI situation. Premier Klein in Alberta, a Tory, is criticizing this. The Premier of Ontario criticizing this. I think many of the Liberals are elected in the province of Ontario.
We noticed that all these people are saying we should have a cut in the EI premiums because it will create jobs. Even the finance minister, once again a Liberal, the one who is making the decisions in this case, admitted when he was sitting over on the opposition side that cutting EI premiums creates jobs. Does the finance minister remember that?
Economist Dale Orr says the premiums could be reduced from $2.70 to $1.85 and still cover the benefit costs. That is now three economists, three premiers and the finance minister when he was in opposition. It is starting to add up.
It goes on. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business in a survey of 19,000 medium and small sized businesses in this country has come back with the results. More than half of respondents said that if the finance minister cut the EI premiums they would be able to hire more workers. I do not know who is a more credible source on job creation than the CFIB and 19,000 small and medium sized businesses.
Up to this point we have had politicians and economists but we actually also have people who work for the government. The government's chief actuary believes we could cut it down from $2.70 to $2.00 and it would still provide a cushion of $10 billion to $15 billion in the EI fund.
How could anyone go against all these sources? It is not just all these people. We have a combination of all the opposition in the House of Commons and, just for the spice of life, Bob White with the Canadian Labour Congress. If we have the Reform Party, the CFIB, Bob White of the Canadian Labour Congress, three premiers and other Liberals who are asking for a cut in the EI premium, how could anyone be against that?
I would like to go on with a few other comments to drive home a couple important points. Alberta paid $1.86 billion into EI in 1997. Members are probably asking how much Alberta took out. If we put in $1.86 billion, how much did Albertans draw upon? It was $670 million. If we do some quick math we come to the determination that it was in excess of $1 billion that Albertans paid in and never received anything back. That includes training programs, by the way. That is $1.19 billion.
The labour force in Alberta comprises 1.513 million people. That amounts to $786.52 that Albertans could have had in their wallets. Let me repeat that $786.52 was what the finance minister took out of Albertans' wallets to put into his pot of gold scheme which he says the auditor general was forcing him to do, if we can believe that. That is what Albertans could have had in their pockets as discretionary income to spend as they saw fit.
Albertans know that money in their wallets does a lot more than it does in the finance minister's wallet. Let me say again that Albertans could have had $786. That is what the finance minister is taking from Alberta workers. Shame on him.
Let us tally up some of the numbers. Payroll taxes per employee in 1993 dollars but measured in 1966 were $803. Today they are $3,272. That is a big increase. I do not know how any finance minister across the way could say he is doing a good job when payroll taxes have jumped like that. Does the House remember the 73% increase in the CPP?
At this point I give notice that I am sharing my time with the member of parliament for Elk Island.