Transport committee  My intent, given the amounts that are at stake, would be to provide regular updates. I haven't decided yet whether it will be semi-annually or once a year. I'm open to suggestions depending on the interest of parliamentarians in that, but given the amount at stake, it would be at the very least an annual update.

Transport committee  It varies significantly across jurisdictions. In some instances, there are labour shortages that make it more difficult to invest quickly and promptly. In other instances, it's probably a lack of identified projects that are shovel ready, to use a widely known expression. It also speaks to the fact that some jurisdictions are financially constrained and it's not always easy for them to match dollar for dollar what the federal government is investing, especially when we—

Transport committee  I wouldn't venture on that specifically, because there are a number of programs. I would keep my remarks probably at a higher level and more general in saying that it's probably a lack of funding. We've seen that through an absence of evidence of any incrementality in the federal funding.

Transport committee  It would certainly be easier for municipalities and provinces if they got some transfers similar to the gas tax fund's, which they wouldn't have to match. In essence, it would be free money for them. The fewer conditions attached—especially with cost matching—the easier it is for other levels of government to spend, obviously.

Transport committee  That's not a good way to start my seven-year mandate. Thank you for inviting the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer to appear before you today to discuss our latest report on phase 1 of the infrastructure plan, released in August, and to provide you with an update following our March 2018 report.

Transport committee  These are on a full-time equivalent basis. There might be some part-time jobs in these numbers, but we have converted them into full-time equivalents, so these would be full-time jobs. Of course, if they are part-time jobs, they're converted to a full-time basis.

Transport committee  Good morning, Madam Chair, vice-chair, and members of the committee. Before I start, I would like to apologize for my intrusion while you were in camera. There was absolutely no sign outside and I didn't want to be late and so I entered the room. I'm sorry about that. I didn't want to listen to any secrets you might have been discussing.

Finance committee  To answer that question, we have to look at the economic situation of the households in its entirety. Over the years, interest rates have dropped markedly. The government mentioned it, as you did. I lived through it too, not when I bought my house, but a lot earlier. Interest rates were high.

Finance committee  Assuming we get what we can get from CRA, and what we expect to get from CRA, it looks like we will get all that is feasible for CRA to give us, but I'll get back to you on that once we have finalized the discussions with CRA.

Finance committee  Yes. Moreover, when one of the committee members asked the governor what keeps him awake at night, I wondered what my own answer would be. I sleep well at night, but one of the things that concerns me is the level of household debt. The rate of indebtedness has reached a very, very high level, despite the fact that interest rates are low.

Finance committee  It's quite clear that mom-and-pop shops will have absolutely no capacity to shift their taxable income from one country to the other. The type of profit shifting that we are anticipating as a result of the U.S. tax cuts will be done in vast majority by multinationals that have operations in both countries.

Finance committee  That's an interesting question, given the fight that my predecessor entered into with CRA. On the quality of data, my office received a first batch in February, and contrary to what people were fearing, we didn't receive boxes and boxes of paper documents. We received USB keys that were secure and protected despite not containing confidential taxpayer data.

Finance committee  Yes, probably.

Finance committee  Certainly, reducing the revenues of a Crown corporation such as CMHC and making sure that this reduced revenue is returned back into the hands of those who pay premiums would be akin to a tax cut. What would the impact of that be? Returning, let's say, $5 billion to households, businesses or a combination of both would provide stimulus to the economy.

Finance committee  To answer that question, I would probably go back to the fiscal sustainability report that I published last month, in which we looked at the federal finances over the next 75 years. I will spare you all the details, but the conclusion of the report is that if we maintain current policies over the next 75 years—and this is a projection, so it's purely an exercise—we show that there is fiscal flexibility of about $29 billion at the federal level.