Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Cross, for your statement and for being here.
As you noted, the senior deputy governor of the Bank of Canada, Ms. Rogers, said that our productivity today is in a “break glass” emergency state. GDP per capita has declined in the last six quarters. In fact, the GDP per capita is lower now than it was back in 2018.
You also recently wrote about how bad productivity is. It's worse than it was back in the 1930s, when the Great Depression was happening. As you noted as well, on the GDP per person, Canada will be the absolute last in growth when it comes to productivity until 2060. You also made mention of these experts who have been pro-carbon tax, and in your recent statements, you've said how the carbon tax is one of those factors that have affected productivity issues, after eight years of the current government.
Can you expand a little more on what your message would be to those 200 experts who are pro-carbon tax? How bad is the carbon tax for the productivity issues, and what is the link between the two?