I have a question for the Conference Board. In your final paragraph you say, “The Conference Board’s own forecast is more optimistic than what is contained in the 2009 federal budget.” We on this side of the table would use a small “c” and say that it's a “conservative estimate” of where we're going.
My frustration, and you may wish to comment, is that we've heard from a variety of folks over the last little while here at this committee—from the head of the Bank of Canada, or in the announcement from the Bank of Nova Scotia, for example—that things aren't as gloomy as some of the press headlines like to be. As an economist, or in looking at this as modelling—I know this is basically a question of numbers—to me the frustration is that we're hearing things such as “Let's be positive about what's happening; let's get started; let's get this economic plan in place and start moving and spending, and things hopefully will come to be....” What role does the psyche of the public play in your estimating where we could be?