In my opinion, it is very clear that flexibility at the federal level is due to the fact that federal spending—again, it is important to say that it's within the current parameters—are mainly transfers to the provinces and to individuals. Transfers to the provinces are legislated. Their growth is tied and capped, in some cases, at 3% or the growth of nominal GDP. It is therefore contained growth.
With respect to transfers to individuals, there is employment insurance, which is a self-financing program over the medium term. There is also the guaranteed income supplement and old age security. The growth of these payments is once again limited to inflation and population growth, of course. Federal spending, as a whole, is therefore constrained. We have put the structural lid on the pot.
At the provincial level, again over the long term, the main driver of expenditure growth is related to health expenditures. Unfortunately, experience has shown that the older people get, the more expensive their health care costs become. That is one of the disadvantages of aging. In addition to losing our hair, it costs more in terms of health care. So the provinces have a lot of costs that they can't control, while the federal government can control its spending.
One possible solution, of course, would be to increase transfers to the provinces, especially those facing the greatest challenges.