Mr. Speaker, the government is using an accounting procedure to get hold of the billions of dollars in surpluses in the employment insurance fund, yet these surpluses belong to workers and businesses.
By recommending that these surpluses be put in the consolidated revenue fund, the auditor general had absolutely no intention of opening the door to systematic plundering.
Will the Deputy Prime Minister admit that, in order to protect the unemployed against government abuse, it is possible to set up an independent employment insurance fund, the surpluses of which would immediately appear in the consolidated fund, as is the case in Quebec with the CSST's funds?