Thank you very much for the invitation to appear, Mr Chair and members of the committee. I'll just have some brief comments here.
I'm here as chief economist of HSBC Bank Canada, which is the leading international bank in Canada. In my comments, I will present our view of the Canadian economic situation and some concerns we have about the global economic backdrop, and then I'll delve into the issues pertinent to today's session.
In our view, the Canadian economy remains in a subdued growth, low inflation, low interest rate trajectory, characterized by moderate employment and income growth.