I think it comes down to all of the impacts on cashflow. Right now, in the short term for companies that are caught with high inventory costs and high materials costs and that aren't able to take advantage of the lower dollar immediately, that does eat into their cashflow and their operating cash. Over a period of time it may work out because they'll be selling at a lower dollar and making more Canadian dollars, so there is an offsetting benefit there.
It's very difficult for any company, let alone any government, to do any forecasting around prices or currencies. This is a dismal profession. I remember it was only a few years ago that some economists—I don't want to say some of us—were predicting a price of $200 a barrel for oil. It's very difficult for anybody...particularly when contracts are set over a long period of time. The price volatility and currency volatility do really affect cashflow, usually negatively, until adjustments can be made.
To your major point, we hear a lot about companies sitting on cash, and in fact, they are in their balance sheets; cash is more in their balance sheets. But that's like saying you have more cash in your RRSP. You're not necessarily going to spend that, nor should you be spending that cash immediately.
What drives investment is operating cash, which is usually after-tax profits plus depreciation. That's why the accelerated capital cost allowance is so important; it drives the cashflow that drives the investment. Right now, and really since 2011, we're seeing record levels of investment in machinery and equipment, usually productive new technologies on the part of manufacturers. A lot of that is attributable to the accelerated depreciation that has been in effect since 2007.
The operating cash drives the investment, and so all of these changes in prices and in currency values will also be affecting that cashflow in a very volatile way. I think it's very important that we continue to encourage the productive use and productive investment from that cash rather than just simply a distribution of dividends.