Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is quite right that the changes to EI are aggressive and could actually hurt some of the most vulnerable in Canada, particularly those living in rural Canada. It is a continued and sustained attack on rural Canadians.
He is also correct that every January when the government hikes up payroll taxes by $600 million, effectively these are job-killing payroll taxes. It is very difficult to try to create more jobs in that kind of environment, particularly for young Canadians.
In terms of changes to EI and some of the attacks on the most vulnerable Canadians, I would also remind the hon. member that the government decided that raising the OAS from 65 to 67 was just fine, even when 40% of the people getting OAS are making less than $20,000 a year and 53% of people getting OAS are making less than $25,000.
This is a meanspirited attack on some of Canada's most vulnerable citizens.