Thank you very much to the panellists for being here today. You had very interesting presentations. We certainly appreciate your experience and your expertise.
I hear similarities in what each of you is identifying as the problem. I hear some differences in terms of what Mr. Schetagne and Monsieur Lavoie are saying about how they feel it's probably very likely we're going to be in a recession. Others of you are saying that it's unclear and we should remain flexible.
We have had significant debate in the House and in this committee about the value of austerity at this point in time, which has been the government's approach, versus the value of investing in the economy through infrastructure investments. Each of you has mentioned this in some way.
My question is, could we be further damaging our economy by pursuing a path of austerity at this point, which we are doing by taking out $4 billion a year and cutting services? And should we instead be investing in building needed infrastructure now, rather than waiting for a further crisis to hit? Should we not be preventing problems down the road?
Let's start with you, Mr. Lavoie. Do you have any comments?