Conservative EI hypocrisy jumps the shark

For years the Conservatives have struggled with the notion that money in the Employment Insurance fund belongs not to the government, but to the workers and employers who pay into it.

That’s why this ironic exchange at Finance Committee yesterday turned a few heads:

Mark Adler (CPC MP, York Centre): Who owns the money in the EI Account? Armine Yalnizyan (CCPA): Workers and employers. Adler: Correct. Now when the Liberals plundered it for $50 billion in the 1990s and early 2000s, and the Supreme Court ruled that was illegal... [Chair tries to interrupt] Adler: …is not what the Liberal party is proposing now very similar to what happened back then? [Chair again tries to cut him off] Adler: This is money that does not belong to the government, correct? Yalnizyan: The rules are made by the federal government – including you, now. You just introduced a tax cut that you made the rules for that. So the federal government makes the rules but does not pay any of it. Adler: The EI doesn’t belong to the government!

It is not clear if the honourable member realizes that while the Liberals raided $50 billion from the EI fund, the Conservatives have gone on to raid another $7 billion from the fund during their tenure.

Canadians deserve better.