Mr. Speaker, I would like to make a couple of comments with regard to the EI fund.
It is concerning, but I think the member may have misspoken. In fact, it was during the Brian Mulroney years that the Auditor General told the government that since the EI program was operating at a deficit, that deficit had to be included in the consolidated revenue fund on an annual basis so that it was reflecting the program performance of the entire government. It used to be a separate bank account, and then it was rolled in.
That means that when the Liberals took over in 1993 and eliminated the $42 billion deficit that was passed over, 10 years of surpluses started.
The point is that the change was made was at a time when there were deficits. When there were surpluses, we had EI premiums going down each and every year.
However, this year, under Bill C-9, the government in fact is eliminating the liability to employers and employees that they are entitled to, either by premium reductions or by improvement in programs.
I just thought the member would be interested in knowing a bit of the factual history.