Human Resources committee  In fact, there are two aspects to the role of the board. Its primary role consists in managing monetary funds.

Human Resources committee  There is also the role of determining the rates for the premiums which they will determine based on the information that it has and to the best of its knowledge. It will determine future rates.

Human Resources committee  The fact that it will guarantee that money is managed independently is also an factor that was considered.

Human Resources committee  It will always be up to the Canadian Employment Insurance Commission and the government to determine these things.

Human Resources committee  This is not so. The new board will not take in any money. As I said in my comments, Revenue Canada will continue gathering the money through the consolidated fund at the beginning. A consolidation will be made to find out how much surplus money there will be at the end of the year.

Human Resources committee  It is a sum of $2 billion which can be indexed over time.

Human Resources committee  The difference is that there is an obligation—

Human Resources committee  The way we can answer that is to say that the purpose of the act is only about ensuring the rate-setting, and the contribution that is collected will be sufficient to deliver on the benefit that has to be delivered, given the current EI Act. There is nothing in the act that limits the ability of the government to make decisions on the benefits.

Human Resources committee  There are two modifications. There is, indeed, the ability to maintain a $2 billion fund, but also, in the future, if in some given year—

Human Resources committee  —that take into account the expenditures for the coming year, as a matter of fact.

Human Resources committee  In fact, this is not the only difference. The surpluses from previous years are transferred into the fund, and this money is taken into account to ensure that the reserve is brought back to the same level.

Human Resources committee  In fact, the change we're proposing is not linked to the benefit. We didn't look at what the impact on benefit could have been, because the change was about how we'd be setting the rate going forward, to ensure that the money collected would be used only for EI purposes.

Human Resources committee  The new legislation will not affect the way the decision will be taken for whether we need to do a new pilot or.... That would rest within the EI Commission and the government.

Human Resources committee  In fact, that doesn't change the way the benefits side of the business is conducted.

Human Resources committee  Yes.