Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much to our witnesses today.
My first question is on the issue of personal debt. One of the areas where we in Canada do not compare favourably internationally is the area of personal debt levels. I believe the average is $42,000 per Canadian in terms of personal debt. That ranks us among the highest in the industrialized world in terms of personal debt.
That, combined with the federal debt and then also provincial debt numbers, creates a more troubling figure. In fact, we're often compared as a country.... Our debt-to-GDP numbers typically only compare our federal debt numbers with those of other countries that are in many cases unitary states, or states wherein other levels of government are not able legislatively to take on the same levels of debt. But if you combine federal debt, provincial debt, and personal debt--i.e., gross debt--within Canada as a percentage of GDP, the Canadian figure is 81.6% of GDP--gross debt as a percentage of GDP. The U.S. is almost at the same level, at 82.3% of GDP.
So those figures are kind of troubling, particularly considering that in terms of gross debt as a percentage of GDP we're worse off than countries like Germany and the U.K. I'd appreciate your thoughts on that, because there's only one taxpayer, even though there may be a number of states that can take on debt, and ultimately we all have to collectively deal with the realities of paying for health care, social investment, and the rest of it. I'd appreciate your thoughts on the risk that this level of indebtedness comparatively represents to Canada.