November 2007 FOREWORD The Canadian Institute of Actuaries, in consideration of the insurance nature of Employment Insurance (originally labelled as Unemployment Insurance), the constant involvement of actuaries with the Canadian UI/EI program since the 1930s and the recognized expertise of the actuarial profession in insurance matters, decided in early 2007 to establish the Task Force on Financin [...] The Task Force had three objectives: 1) to review the current rules for the setting of EI premium rates and for the handling of the accumulated surpluses in the EI Account; 2) to consider the potential role of surplus and/or counter-cyclical premium rates in mitigating the effects of economic downturns; and 3) to recommend a viable long-term approach to these matters which would be in agreement wi [...] November 2007 Finally, the Quebec Superior Court concluded that the EI Account belongs to the government, which, however, cannot remove the EI surpluses without changing the legislation: “Thus, one cannot conclude that the premiums or the surpluses they generate belong to the people who pay into the plan, as suggested by the Arvida union and the CSN. [...] November 2007 3. CURRENT RULES ON EI FINANCING AND PREMIUM RATE-SETTING A complete picture of EI financing involves: 1. the source of revenues used to finance the EI program; 2. the program expenditures that fall under the EI program; 3. the accounting framework used to consolidate and to report EI revenues and spending; 4. the general governance of the EI system; and 5. the rules for setting EI p [...] Noting the estimated surplus of $35 billion at March 31, 2001, that Senate Committee reported to the House of Commons that: “the committee believes that the size of the reserve today − and it follows the premium rate − is excessive in terms of that required to satisfy the intent of the act.” Following the Speech from the Throne on October 5, 2004, a subcommittee of the House of Commons was charged
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- Canada
