As I said to Monsieur Côté, a year or so ago, and for a period of time before that, there was this impact of global uncertainty because of events in Europe, which were particularly fraught. There were fundamental uncertainties about U.S. fiscal policy and therefore U.S. demand, and those were weighing on Canadian businesses. Related to that was the sort of general policy uncertainty as well, policy in Europe, policy in the U.S., and to some extent monetary policy of global central banks as well as uncertainty about the effectiveness of that.
The effect of that on Canadians has dissipated because of steps taken in Europe and because—it's not perfect, but there have been steps taken in the U.S. as you are aware—of the relative effectiveness, particularly of the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve, which has been demonstrated.
So the uncertainties that exist right now for Canadian business have to do with global demand. There is some impact of two Canadian factors, though, which aren't policy related but are just part of the dynamics of demand in Canada. We've had weaker growth in Canada than we would have expected and than businesses would have expected. So that accelerator you talk about is working, in that businesses are holding off—not totally holding off, but holding off until they see a pickup in domestic demand as well.
The other factor, which we highlight in the report, is the impact on the energy sector in Mr. Jean's region. It's page 15 en français, and I think it's page 15 in English as well. We see much higher volatility in Canadian crude. You know that; businesses know that. The level is also lower than WTI. So a lower level, higher volatility, and that sort of uncertainty on the margin, we think, are hitting investment in one of our most important sectors.