Mr. Speaker, it is a good question. The government raids every piggy bank it can find if it is going to make the government look good.
There is a little bit of difference between the EI fund, which is paid for by employers and employees, and this one. The taxpayer puts cash into the plan and they are not going to get this cash. We are not talking about tax relief. Not a penny of this is being promised as tax relief to the taxpayer, not a penny. The government wants to make a simple accounting change to reduce the debt and say how wonderful it is.
The Liberals tried to tell us how wonderful they were when I think it was Pierre Trudeau who said “Don't worry about the debt. We owe it to ourselves”. Look at the mess we got ourselves into courtesy of the Liberal government.
Does the government think it is going to fix it with some smoke and mirrors type of accounting policies? No way. Taxpayers have worked darned hard. They have had to slog and pay high taxes. Now this government is going to put a smile on its face and say it is doing a wonderful job with smoke and mirrors accounting. I say that is the wrong way.