Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Arora, something you said earlier sums up a lesson that is important to be heeded. It was when you were responding to one of the members. To one of his questions, you said, “We deal in facts”. I think we should focus on that as we wrap up. Some of the questions I'm hearing you answer over and over again from some of the committee members on the Conservative side reflect the fact that they're refusing to operate or deal in facts.
For example, they're refusing to accept the fact that the cost of housing is properly accounted for in the consumer price index. You've explained why that is, because you've explained the consumer price index is a measure of how the cost of living, including housing, affects Canadians.
They refuse to accept the fact that the government has said countless times—whether it's in committee forums like this, in question period or in the media—that it is not considering a tax on public residence. They refuse to face that fact.
They refuse to accept the fact—we just heard it from one of the members—that the government is not commissioning studies like they've alleged. I want to refer to that quote from an article where Paul Kershaw, the University of British Columbia professor who led the research that Mr. McLean was referring to, said he wanted to be clear that “This was not a government-commissioned report”, as the Conservatives are spinning it.
All this is to say that if we go back and focus.... It's very important that we remember that we really do, as you have advised us, Mr. Arora, deal in the facts. That's what Statistics Canada and you present to us to the best of your abilities, and you do it in an excellent, credible and objective way. I want to thank you and your team for being here today and for doing that every single day.
I probably have three minutes left, so I want to ask you a few more questions with the remaining time, Mr. Arora.
One of them is how we're currently recovering from a very difficult economic time as a result of the pandemic. I have another few questions, so if you can be brief I'd be grateful. How does the current recovery, in your view and based on the data you've collected and assessed, compare to past recessions?