Mr. Speaker, the object of an employment insurance program is to provide insurance. When people buy insurance they hope they never have to cash in on it. It is like life insurance. The insurance companies are betting people are going to live; people are betting they are going to die, but are hoping the insurance companies are right. It is the same principle.
When we have an employment insurance plan, it must be supported by everyone in the country who is working. Hopefully not everyone will need it and obviously they do not.
Also, I would like to see an accounting over the last 20 or 25 years of how much has gone into employment insurance in terms of direct subsidy from the taxpayer, when the employment insurance program was running a deficit. Nobody talks about that. All members talk and yell about is that it is running a surplus.
We have reduced employment insurance premiums. They are down to about $1.25 from the $2.20 they were when we took office. We have reduced the burden on the business community and the worker. In the last budget we dramatically increased benefits for Canadian workers. They know it. It is only the folks over there who do not.