Mr. Speaker, I would like the people who are listening to us today to understand how it works.
Employment insurance was created. It is the same in the private sector. The government cannot use taxes to pay benefits when someone loses their job. Therefore the employment insurance fund was created. In other words, “Pay a premium and I will give you benefits”. It is the same thing in the private sector in terms of insurance.
My question is simple. In the private sector, a company could say to people “I am going to make you pay premiums so that if the need arose, you could receive benefits”. If that company had a lot of debt, it would raise premium rates in order to make a profit. People would pay and at least have the assurance that they would eventually receive benefits.
What would happen if, several years later, this company, knowing it had a lot of debt, took this money out of its profits and, without telling people, paid off its debt? In the event that people needed their benefits, the company would say “There is nothing left in the fund”. What would happen to this private company?