Mr. Speaker, I want to join my colleague to my left who raised the issue of the EI fund.
On the weekend I saw a fellow on the street with a huge sign that said “Paul the pirate”. I approached him to see what on earth he was up to and he said “The Minister of Finance is pirating funds that working people and small entrepreneurs have put into the EI fund for the last number of years. He is stealing $5 billion this year”. How can he do that?
My friend from Markham made reference to the changes in the legislation that would result in a five year opportunity to review the success of the program, particularly the pilot studies, and that the minister would have significantly more room in terms of regulatory change. I know there has been a change in government policy, perhaps in every department, where more emphasis is being given to providing responsibility and authority to the minister to change regulations having to do with certain pieces of legislation.
Does my hon. friend from Markham not have some concern about this area in terms of ministerial influence, in terms of adjusting or changing legislation, in terms of where that might take us?
Second, does he feel, as I do, that there is a crucial area in the field of financing for tourism related projects? I do not think this legislation meets that area of the economy in any way and it is something that we should be looking at as parliamentarians.