I appreciate the presentations. I just want to raise the issue of some of the fundamental things that have happened over the last couple of years. I think relative to other countries we've weathered the storm fairly well, but we do have an increase in personal debt, which is a matter for concern.
One thing that is positive but that could have a better impact, if we understood exactly why, is that companies sitting on cash.... That's much more of a problem south of the border. Whenever I'm in the U.S., companies raise it constantly, that they're sitting on cash. I ask them why. They say it's because of uncertainty, that the economic times are very uncertain. They also point to some government policy as well.
So they're not spending, and obviously that's having some economic impact. This relates to the venture capital community, but it relates to investments in the economy as a whole.
Now, some of our analysts at the committee have said in discussions that it's true, this is a short-term problem, but also a longer-term problem for the Canadian and the U.S. economies.
As many of you as want to could comment on that particular problem and offer any advice you may have for addressing it.