Absolutely. Blackmail is a term that often gets used for that kind of thing. When employment insurance first came into being there was a vision. We had to do something to help unemployed workers to be able to put money into their pockets. The vision was there.
When money goes into a successful program and the program develops a surplus, most insurance plans would enhance the program. What does the Government of Canada do? It wondered how it could cut back on the program to see how much money it could save or maybe it wondered how much money it needed to cut down the debt or deficit and decided to get the money out of the employment insurance fund.
Instead of having a vision for improving the lives of Canadians and unemployed workers, improving training not just in the Atlantic or the north but throughout the country, building unity in the country and providing national programs that benefit everyone, the government did nothing. It piecemealed every bit and figured out how much money it would keep, how many dollars it could shaft from workers and not give back to them.
My hon. colleague mentioned all the wonderful things in the bill. Is he willing to look at having the employment insurance program operate separately? Is he willing to have the money not become part of the government coffers but go strictly for the improvement of training and employment of unemployed workers?