Thank you, Mr. Chair.
To add to Ms. Nash's comments, we all want to see the committee play a constructive role in providing certainty to Canadians during the global financial turmoil that we've seen in the last few weeks. There is a lot of uncertainty. This committee and Parliament can actually help to provide answers to Canadians, particularly in helping to provide a vehicle for the government to provide clarity where there's now uncertainty.
For many of the last few weeks, a lot of Canadian investors and individuals have seen their expectations change. Clearly the impact of the last several weeks in terms of the global capital markets and the impact from the U.S. economy and the uncertainty in Europe will have an effect on the assumptions on which the government has made projections.
Particularly when we return in September, as members of Parliament we need to have good information on the potential impacts of some of these global financial challenges on the government's projections and budget numbers. I think that Canadian investors and citizens would benefit from having this information. That is why we believe it would be important for the Minister of Finance and the Bank of Canada to appear, and here I would concur with having a panel of economists who could provide insight. That would be helpful to us.
We do not have to meet for days, but could have a concise, productive, and informative session that could help give Canadian citizens and investors greater clarity during these uncertain times.