Thank you for being here.
Between now and 2022, a five-year period, public debt charges, that is, interest on the national debt, are expected to grow from $24 billion per year to $38.5 billion, which is an increase of $14.5 billion or 58%.
Can you confirm that this annual expenditure of $38.5 billion for debt interest is money that the government cannot allocate to fund health care or other valuable services that Canadians use?