Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Acadie—Bathurst for his question, although I think it would be better directed to the Minister of Human Resources Development rather than the Minister of Finance.
The issue the member is now talking about has to do more with changes to EI and not about setting the rates, which is what I am familiar with, but more in terms of hours, et cetera. I would refer to his original question. He asked about the Minister of Finance picking up the phone to talk to the Minister of Human Resources Development. I am obviously not in a position to comment on that.
I can tell him with regard to the Ottawa Senators that the deal is off the table and in any event, the finance department would not be involved with any $60 million tax cut funded from EI.
This gives me an opportunity to simply say that the EI account is an accounting device used as a record for financial transactions related to the EI program. As the member well knows, the annual premium revenue is paid into the government's consolidated revenue fund, the CRF and the annual program expenditure is paid out of the CRF, plus any interest credited to or charged against the account.
The difference between the annual EI revenues and annual EI expenditures, including the administrative costs, results in the account recording an annual surplus or deficit in any year.
As the member knows, for the last 10 years straight the rates have been coming down. The minister has announced a process which has begun and will be concluded on June 30 that will deal with looking at a whole new approach and new regime in terms of the EI rates.
The annual surpluses or deficits recorded in the EI account have been consolidated. They were consolidated at the request of the Auditor General back in 1986 when the government acted on the Auditor General's advice. There is no separate EI account. There has not been since 1986. However, the cumulative balance recorded in the account is simply the sum of the annual surpluses minus the deficits and is entirely notional because the annual amounts in every year have been integrated into the consolidated revenue fund.
I conclude by saying to my hon. colleague that the specifics which he is looking for would be more suited for the HRDC department rather than finance. If he wants to talk about EI setting rates, et cetera, I would be more than happy to talk about that. The question he asked really was about picking up the phone and asking for changes. They are very legitimate concerns that the member has and I appreciate his concerns, but they do not fall within the purview of the Minister of Finance. They fall within the purview HRDC.