The surplus in the employment insurance fund has grown to $51 billion, according to briefing notes done for Human Resources Minister Monte Solberg.

The notes were released under Access to Information, according to published reports on Thursday.

CBCCBC

A Human Resources Department spokesperson confirmed that the fund grew by $2.2 billion in the government's 2005-06 fiscal year. That included $800 million in excess premiums and $1.4 billion in interest.

In 2004, the surplus stood at $44 billion.

The Conservatives regularly criticized the Liberals when they were in office over the size of the EI surplus.

However, now that they are in power, the Conservatives have not offered any plans on what they are going to do with the massive surplus.

EI premiums fell on Jan. 1 by seven cents to $1.80 per $100 in insurable earnings. The premiums are now set at a maximum of $720 annually. The employer rate was cut by 10 cents to $2.52 per $100.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation, long a critic of the size of the surplus, said both individual and employer premiums should be set at $1.59 to help spur job creation.

With Ottawa taking in more in premiums and interest than it pays out, the excess money from EI has gone in the federal government's main piggybank for use for other purposes, be that new spending or tax breaks.

"The EI system is being used as a tax grab by the federal government to spend more money elsewhere," said Canadian Taxpayers Federation federal director John Williamson. "It should operate more as an insurance program, and not be used as a revenue generator by the government."

Finn Poschmann of the C.D. Howe Institute called the large surplus a "10-year trainwreck" but pointed out that there is no slush fund sitting around waiting to be spent, as successive governments have used the EI surplus to balance their books.

Poschmann said the $51 billion figure dates back to March 2006 and he estimated that the fund has now grown closer to $53 billion thanks to strong employment growth.

"The money is still rolling in," he said.

With files from the Canadian Press