This is actually a topic I raise at almost every talk I give. Because we are a federation, we have to take the federal debt and actually add the provincial debt, because there is only one taxpayer by province. I don't mean to pick on Quebec, but Quebec has the highest ratio, with a provincial debt burden of 50% of GDP, and our federal level, depending upon how you measure it, is 34%. Combined, that's the same level as the U.K. or France, which are seen as countries with too much debt.
There's a general consensus that at somewhere between 80% and 85% of GDP, capital markets start to pay far too much attention to debt burden, and you may start to lose access to capital. You're certainly going to pay a higher price for it. You have to develop a serious strategy to ensure your debt is under control.
The Americans are there now. As I mentioned, the U.K. and France are. As a federal government, we're a long way from that. We're clearly the best performer in the G-7, but as a federation, we have to be very mindful of what each province is doing with its own debt strategy.