Thank you for the question, Mr. Chair.
I would agree that for the last few years, fiscal policy has not been aligned with monetary policy in that one has been working against the other. It is harder for the bank to do its job to bring inflation back to 2% if the government keeps spending over 2%, which is the price stability target for the bank over time. That's just simple math.
By the way, this includes provincial governments as well because they do spend quite a bit of money.
I think it's really important that, at the end of the day, fiscal policy is aligned with monetary policy. That's because we do want the cost of living to come down for Canadians, and we do want Canadians to have the purchasing power that enables them to live and to be able to afford things. If we don't do that, we're just making the lives of Canadians harder. I think that's just simple math.
Without going into the specifics, I would say that I very much agree with Governor Macklem's comments yesterday.