Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Macklem and Ms. Rogers, for coming here.
For whatever criticisms you may face, I don't think a failure to communicate can be one of them. Thank you for being here.
My questions are going to focus around the carbon tax, and then hopefully, if I have time, productivity.
We've known each other for a while now, Governor Macklem. We had an exchange back in the spring of 2022. I asked you about the inflationary impact of the carbon tax. I have seen it misquoted by both politicians and reporters. I want to clear this up.
What you wrote, and I'll just read it here for the ease of everyone, is that “According to the Bank’s calculations, if the charge were to be removed from the three main fuel components of the consumer price index (gasoline, natural gas and fuel oil) it would reduce the inflation rate by 0.4 percentage points.”
What's been quoted throughout, by politicians and journalists as well, is actually the increase that you said, which would be 0.1%, or 0.15%, which I've seen as well.
We've already had one increase. If I can add 0.4% to the 0.1% or 0.15% that I've also seen quoted, that would be 50 or 55 basis points.
Am I understanding you correctly in that?