Thank you very much, and merci. Oh, I shouldn't speak French, because I put myself on the English channel. I was going to thank Gabriel Ste-Marie properly for giving me some time.
This discussion, as I'm sure the chair of this committee will recall—though many of you wouldn't have been around—was really championed by James Rajotte a lot, going back maybe 10 years now, in bringing forward financial literacy and the need to educate Canadians.
I'm looking at the behaviour of Canadians during the COVID pandemic and that of residents south of the border, and it's striking. I wonder if I could ask you, Ms. Lang, to comment on it.
My understanding of the different reactions is that Americans were saving quite a lot more before the pandemic hit, and that when they got any emergency relief money during the pandemic, they tended to save it. Canadians were spending more before the pandemic, and when we got emergency relief money, we tended to spend it. While retail sales plummeted across Canada, consumer spending, particularly gigantic leaps in online sales, continued to basically keep pace with consumption. Obviously, there was a reduction, but even in the economic uncertainty we're facing, it didn't seem to result in an increased impulse among Canadians to save. I wonder if that impression is correct and if you've looked at that and can help explain it.