Madam Speaker, I will address the CPP point first. The reason I did not address the CPP premium increase was because the CPP premiums do not flow to government revenues. They flow outside of government revenues, whereas EI contributions do flow to the bottom line of government. Any time we make any sort of change on EI premiums, it does impact on the bottom line. That would reinforce the point the hon. member made that Canada pension plan premiums do not flow to government revenues. That is why I did not make reference to that.
When the finance department works out its numbers, it does take into consideration the things I mentioned. I was addressing the number of individuals out there who were extrapolating a surplus of one month throughout the whole year without taking into consideration the reduction in revenues that flow into governments in the last quarter of the fiscal year.
It is important to note that any time there is an initiative on the part of the government, a reduction in EI premiums or the fact that corporate earnings are going to be less than they were the year before and when the corporations file in the last quarter of the fiscal year, the revenues flowing to government are less. All of these adjustments in the final quarter need to be factored in to what will be the underlying surplus.
What we were hearing through to the end of 1998 was that because the federal government was running a $9.7 billion surplus over eight months of the year that the final surplus should be extrapolated to be $18 billion or $20 billion because of the $9.7 billion figure. However, when one takes into consideration what in fact happens in the last quarter, that $9.7 billion goes down rather than increases.