Madam Speaker, I think this is a very fundamental issue when we refer to the EI plan and the pension plan.
One of the things all members of the opposition seem to forget is that during bad times the Government of Canada and Canadian taxpayers built up all the deficits in both the EI fund and the pension plan funds. The government is at the point where it has invested the money wisely and the surpluses being generated now are in fact the property of the Canadian taxpayer.
We are here to invest the money appropriately and to do what we can to keep this country healthy and a good global competitor. We cannot do that with deficits. We cannot do that by artificially pouring money into areas where it does not belong.
I have no problem with the member's question except to the point where the opposition always seem to start its questioning when we hit a surplus. It never goes back in history to when the government was topping up the deficits.