Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Duguay, for your presentation today. I just want to take a moment to recognize the very important work you and your colleagues do at the Bank of Canada. I think the relative strength of the Canadian economy and the Canadian financial system is due in no small part to your guidance and that of your colleagues over the years. So I want to acknowledge that.
This morning you described in your remarks the many things the Bank of Canada has been doing over the last few years to stabilize and increase liquidity in Canada for business and consumer lending. You pointed out there has been strong growth, in fact, in total household credit and there has been limited deceleration in the growth of total business credit. But business and consumers are not borrowing and consuming as much as our economy needs to spark a recovery at this point in time. So psychology is obviously very important.
As you pointed out, the 2009 budget contains a number of stimulus measures designed to encourage consumer and business spending. This morning I heard Mayor Francis of Windsor, Ontario, commenting that his community needs stimulus now, in regard to layoffs at Chrysler. They need it immediately, as soon as possible. Could you comment on the timing of the injection of the stimulus by the government, the non-monetary stimulus measures in the budget, and the effects of waiting too long to put that stimulus into the economy?