Mr. Speaker, what the parliamentary secretary just said is all very nice, but the real problem is the $8 billion a year that the federal government takes from workers to pay down the debt. Is that justifiable?
Concerning the errors made by the federal government at the expense of unemployed workers to whom it did not pay benefits for one or two years until they brought the matter before the court of appeal, is the government willing to pay interest to these people for all the money they lost during that time? The decision that was handed down in that matter showed that the workers were right, and not the Department of Human Resources Development.
If the parliamentary secretary wants to talk about money, why would it not be a two way street? The government collects interest, even though it makes mistakes, but it does not want to pay interest to those workers who suffered for one or two years before having to turn to the court of appeal.
Is the government willing to soften its stance as much as it is willing to take billions of dollars from workers, more specifically the $42 billion and more in the employment insurance fund? That money belongs to the workers, not to the Liberal government.