Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Welcome, Mr. Giroux. Thank you for your report.
I would like to continue along the same lines as Mr. Julian and talk about Canadians' household debt. You said that the thing that keeps you awake at night is not so much the debt as our ability to repay it.
When I was young, my parents had to contend with interest rates of 12% or 13%. When I bought my first house, the five-year rate on my first mortgage was about 8%. Now the rates are around 3%. That is unheard of.
How able are Canadian households to pay back their debts? The Bank of Canada indicates that the key rate should range from 2.5% to 3.5%, but, if the part of household income that goes to paying back the debt exceeds 16%, it would be the straw that breaks the camel's back, don't you think?