Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thank Mr. Fréchette and all his colleagues for being here with us.
You know that we have a great deal of respect for your work and we are happy to see you here today. I can assure you that the work you do, namely to inform Canadians and parliamentarians, is important to us. I can assure you, Mr. Fréchette, of our full co-operation, now and in the future, for everything you do.
I would like to get back to the issue of prudence, which is very important. Before meeting with you, we met with the Governor of the Bank of Canada, who told us about the volatility of the global economy. The Canadian economy is about 2% of the global economy. We examined the significant risks in the global economy. We talked about China and the United States. We could also talk about Brazil. The International Monetary Fund recently downgraded its projection for Canada's economic growth.
How have you integrated the macroeconomic risks in the global economy in your projections? It is important to look at what is happening in the world. All economic players agree that there is a lot of volatility. Ms. Lagarde spoke of a low-growth era. Therefore we think it appropriate to be prudent.
Please tell us about the macroeconomic measures you have considered or the risks associated with the global economic volatility that you took into account in your projections.