My first question is for Mr. Brun.
I read your brief and the answers to the questions raised.
Firstly, I am interested in the issue of Canada's productivity. This has been a problematic issue for some time now, even prior to the free trade agreement with the United States. Moreover, one of the arguments in favour of signing the free trade agreements, both the agreement with the United States and then NAFTA later on, was the lessening of the productivity gap between us and the United States. This did not occur. The gap has grown despite the various measures that different Canadian governments have tried to implement.
You mentioned that the service sector was one that was really lagging behind in terms of productivity. This is true, but there are not necessarily many productivity gains that we can expect to achieve in this sector because of its structure and its very nature.
We know that services and natural resources are probably the two sectors that are growing the most and that the manufacturing sector is on the decline. How can the government deal with productivity in a constructive manner through budget, tax or general economic measures?