Yes.
Thank you very much to all the witnesses.
Mr. Booth, I want to start with you. I think you provided a very unique and interesting perspective. For the last several years, opinion leaders, bankers and government leaders have been telling us that the way to prosperity is through debt-financed consumption.
Last week, we had embarrassing testimony from the Governor of the Bank of Canada—thankfully, the outgoing governor—who, as you might know, has supported an unprecedented engorgement of debt-fuelled consumption during his time as governor and encouraged governments to take on more debt in so-called good times. That runs counter to the Keynesian theory that you pay off debt in the good times to have surpluses in the good times and buffer yourself against the bad times.
I asked the governor if he could tell us what the total debt was of Canadian households, businesses and governments in Canada, and he didn't know, which I found astounding for someone in his position. He is basically the top banker. You'd think he would know about—