Thank you, Chair.
Thank you all for being here this afternoon. Mr. Page, its good to see you here with your staff.
I must say, I'm really looking forward to working with your staff as you come to a way to develop the private members' bill costing. In talking with your staff, I think we have some ideas on how to move forward on that. It will be a positive for all members of Parliament, and I look forward to your cooperation on that.
My questioning this morning is on the stimulus package, and the idea that the opposition parties keep throwing on the floor that we need another stimulus package. I have a hard time with that. When I was back in my riding at the last break, talking to my mayors and towns and communities, I heard that they all have infrastructure needs over time, but when I talk to them, I find they don't have the ability to actually find the labour and the people to do these infrastructure projects.
Of course, I come from Saskatchewan, where we're looking for plumbers and electricians, and anybody with a trade who can hold a shovel can have a job, basically--and a good job. So I find it bewildering when we start talking about economic slowdowns. But when I go back home everybody is talking about building—another potash mine here, another potash mine there, more oil being developed, more gas being developed, uranium and mining being developed. I have to take everything I hear with a grain of salt, both here in Ottawa and back in Saskatchewan.
TD economists put out a report last week saying additional fiscal stimulus at this time in the Canadian context is not appropriate. I will quote them:
With enduring costs associated with stimulus and only temporary benefits, the bar dictating the need for additional support should be set fairly high.
Do you agree with that comment, “should be set fairly high”? By setting it high, what would be the measurement? How would we measure the time or the appropriate place to say that we need to transition from the track we're on now to a track where we need to borrow a pile of money and go into further deficits and start a stimulus package?