Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's a pleasure to be able to join the hearings on Bill C-39, an outstanding piece of legislation that I'm proud to support.
I think one of the things that may be lost in the discussion, specifically when the NDP talks about democracy, is the confusion about obstruction and democracy. I don't believe the wilful effort to obstruct legislation should in any way be confused with democracy or debate or otherwise. I think we're having a debate about this bill, but I also think we've had the opportunity to debate many of the items in this bill for some time.
I'm interested, Mr. Turk, in your comments. You were careful with your language. You indicated that, in real terms, dollars have actually declined. That, of course, is an economics term, adjusting for the real value of money, so I would assume that in nominal terms, investments have not been reduced. Is that accurate?