Finance committee  That's correct.

Finance committee  We asked the Department of Finance for the numbers and they provided the numbers to us. It's based on their estimates according to the data for 2012. There are 10,000 small businesses that fall in that category of $14,000 to $16,000 in EI payments. That's all the information that

Finance committee  Potentially.

Finance committee  No. We have not seen any estimates from the government.

Finance committee  No.

Finance committee  We looked at what they have published on their website in terms of what methodology they used. They have used an estimate for pension premium changes that was, from my recollection, originally estimated by the University of Toronto. They have turned that into the number of jobs o

Finance committee  Our estimate, based on the multipliers provided by the Department of Finance, is about 800 jobs in 2016.

Finance committee  Yes, $550 million. That's right.

Finance committee  This is a question that we have asked in the past. According to the Department of Finance's own numbers in the fiscal update, the account will be in surplus in 2015 and 2016. There is really no reason as far as the Employment Insurance Act is concerned to keep the rate at 1.88, b

Finance committee  That's right. The only explanation that we have heard was for fiscal planning purposes, but we don't know exactly to what end.

Finance committee  The way that the program is structured is that as soon as there is an accumulated balance in the account, the rate is supposed to be set in a way that this balance disappears. The break-even rate over the seven-year period would maintain a relatively stable premium rate and there

Finance committee  Thank you. Good morning, Chair, Vice-Chair, and members of the committee. Thank you for the invitation to appear before the committee today. I will make a few brief remarks to set the context for the questions that you may have regarding the small business job credit. While

Finance committee  Obviously it is.

Finance committee  Thank you very much.

Finance committee  Yes.