Mr. Speaker, it is good to see that the NDP is trying to read budgets today, as opposed to the year 2000 when it just voted against them. However, in talking about omnibus bills, I will try to address some of the questions the member had.
The omnibus bills we used to table were not even 100 pages long. They addressed issues that were in the budget. However, in this case, in my speech I gave at least four or five examples of items that are in the omnibus bill but not in the budget. Therefore, I do not see how the situations are comparable.
In terms of unemployment, I do not see why we are faulted. We had great economic growth and made great decisions in terms of moving the economy ahead. The unemployment insurance premiums were being held in a separate fund but they were used for the debt. It is not as if the money was spent on items for political purposes, as the Conservative Party does.
The money was still there and still accounted for. We just did a good job with the economy and did not have to pay out a lot of the EI premiums that were collected, because people were actually working instead of being on unemployment insurance. I do not see what the problem is.