Bookkeeper:
The EI fund has been consolidated into the general government money pool (the Consolidated Revenue Fund) since 1986. The Employment Insurance Account is used to track the net surplus or deficit in the EI share of the government’s balance, but there is no separate fund of money sitting in the bank somewhere.
The main concern of the Auditor General is not that the money is only there on paper, but that the EI tax rates are set artificially high, and are being used to subsidize other government spending, which is, if not illegal, at least contrary to the intent of the Act. This practice inceases the actual cash available to the government without having to do something more visible, such as increase income tax or GST rates, cut spending, or affect the deficit/surplus.
Ah, that makes perfect, awful sense. I keep getting this feeling I’m not paranoid enough, and the more I learn about what really goes on, the stronger that feeling gets.
