Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Welcome, Mr. Carney and Mr. Jenkins. I'm very glad that you are here to enlighten us.
Mr. Carney, I was reading in your presentation that there are several reasons for the recovery you are talking about. I took note of the timeliness and scale of our monetary policy response and stimulative fiscal policy measures. I believe that these are two important elements with which we can work, at least within our country.
However, you also mention that the Bank of Canada has eased its monetary policy since December 2007 and it has accelerated this decrease by several basis points since October 2008. I am therefore wondering about the cooperation, or the ties, that you have with the current government. If you began easing monetary policy in December 2007, you must have had some indication of an economic slowdown.
Would it have been appropriate to immediately implement some kind of economic renewal plan at the same time as you say that in October you continued to ease monetary policy? You therefore realized that the situation was worsening while the new government had been elected. To my knowledge, the new government did not present a very convincing stimulus package. That is why the government was prorogued. I'm wondering what the connection is between your planning, which seems appropriate, and the government, which must take steps in line with yours if we want it to be constructive. I would like you to tell us about your thinking with regard to this.