Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to the hon. member and the previous government speaker as they crowed about the ability of the finance minister to have slain the deficit.
It is interesting to throw into the mix the $38 billion that was inherited by the Conservative government of the day and the effort that was made, the political capital that was spent in bringing in a deficit reduction tax like the GST and, of course, free trade. Those are constantly left out of the discussions when the government is in a self-congratulatory mode and bending over backward to pat itself on the back.
I want to at least inject some intellectual honesty into the debate when we are talking about how the government accomplished these great things. It was done on the backs of taxpayers. It was done by taking the money from businesses, employers and employees to accumulate the surplus that now exists.
My question for the hon. member refers more to what has happened in the budget with the EI premiums. What has happened is really nothing. While we had one red nickel taken off the EI premiums last week, there is no mention of it in this particular budget. To the hon. member, I am concerned that what we see here is the EI premium staying the same, and at the same time we are seeing CPP premiums increase by 40 cents per $100.
How can the government and the member defend this policy and this budget by not reducing EI premiums so that people in places like Mulgrave, Afton and River John, Nova Scotia will be able to make a go of it this winter?