Finance committee  I'm releasing a paper next Monday for The Macdonald-Laurier Institute. I'm making an argument along that line and putting forward, which no one has put forward thus far, to my knowledge, in Canada, an actual test. I'm not against deficits, but we talk about them and we say we nee

Finance committee  I argue, because of the views I've developed, that governments typically face spending problems, because there are always more demands than you can possibly meet. There are going to be hundreds of groups coming before you at this committee saying, “Spend, spend, spend, or the the

Finance committee  He knows the word “no”.

Finance committee  I'll just shotgun them. We do talk about this issue. There are many economists talking about it right now. How can we move the needle? One is restructuring. That's not austerity. Restructuring means opening up the economy, getting rid of interprovincial trade barriers, having m

Finance committee  Sure.

Finance committee  I appreciate the question. My best defence, of course, is this is StatsCan data, using the input-output data as the basis of setting up the NAICS codes. The NAICS is the North American Industrial Classification System, which chops up the Canadian economy into all of the differe

Finance committee  No.

Finance committee  But I'm not suggesting that gas isn't important.

Finance committee  Agreed.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  That was additional CPP.

Finance committee  Natural resources, yes.

Finance committee  Population increased by 11%.

Finance committee  I'm sorry. What was the question?

Finance committee  Spending went up by 43% in the last 10 years, in that 10-year period, whereas population growth is a proxy for needs, right? If the population grows by 11%, ceteris paribus—all other things being equal—revenues and expenditures should grow by that much or by some approximately eq