Thanks, Mr. Chairman, and I'm sure you didn't give me a heads-up there so I wouldn't step on Mr. Julian again. Sorry about that, Peter.
Thank you again, witnesses, for your testimony. I appreciate it very much.
You know, the fall economic update provided Canadians with the information that they could expect a $381-billion deficit this year, with maybe another $100 billion more of post-COVID spending. Those are monumental numbers.
Now, this bill we're debating today is asking us to increase our debt ceiling. To use the words of Mr. Moody, I would hate to be considered Mr. Orange's credit card authorization person, the person who's going to authorize an increased spending limit to get us into further debt levels that are possibly unwarranted and certainly unjustified.
I would like to point out that former Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page, who reads financial statements and updates for a living, made the comment that he was unable to follow the money in the fall economic update statement. Now we're being asked to provide approval for increased spending outside of a budget. It is actually budget time. It was budget time over a year ago, and we haven't had a budget.
Mr. Wudrick and Mr. Moody, you both rightly said that it's time for a budget, and if some of these measures would be included in a budget, there would be the opportunity to show Canadians in a transparent way where the money is going to go. As it is, there's a lack of transparency, and Canadians just don't know where the money is going.
Could you comment any further on that?