Thank you, Mr. Chair.
In my life before politics, I used to come to Saskatoon often. I always had a great reception here, so the first thing I'd like to do is thank the witnesses for giving me this opportunity to come back again. It's great to be here.
I think the central task of this committee is to recommend to the government what should be in the next budget. This week, there were press reports that we might have a second GST reduction at a cost of some $5 billion to $6 billion a year. And while the GST cut is nice, it does crowd out virtually everything else in the form of income tax cuts or expenditures.
I'd just like to do what I did in Vancouver, which is to have a very quick little poll and ask all of you a question. Do you think the government is on the right track vis-à-vis the GST? I'd just ask you to say yes or no or abstain—no comment—which of course is your right. I'd then like to get on to more specific questions.
Maybe we could begin with Mr. Taylor.