Mr. Speaker, as a former economist with the Department of Finance, I am happy to discuss a motion recognizing the good work of civil servants in that department.
I would like to ask the hon. member, however, if he acknowledges that the “Fiscal Monitor”, to which the Conservatives are referring, also shows that between April and November of 2015, employment insurance premiums were $14 billion, whereas employment insurance benefits were only $12 billion. That difference of $2 billion is more than twice the $1-billion surplus that is being claimed.
Would the hon. member acknowledge that the only reason for this surplus is, in fact, because the former Conservative government took money out of the EI fund?