His targets are: the nation's 1.7 million unemployed, who will find it harder to qualify for reduced UI benefits; provincial treasurers, who face a freeze on federal spending for social assistance; government employees, whose wages will be frozen; and the defence depart- t+0 ment, which will lose 6,000 troops and four military bases.

The best example is the UI cuts. With one hand [Paul Martin] pared UI benefits and lengthened qualifying periods for the jobless. With another, he cut UI premiums paid by employers, a move finance department experts said will cut payroll costs and encourage employers to invest in new jobs.

Martin also attempted to stem criticism of the UI cuts by increasing benefits for single mothers supporting children and softening the Tory rules that cut Canadians off UI if they voluntarily quit their jobs.