Thank you, Chair.
Good afternoon, everyone. It's great to see some familiar faces and some friends.
Professor Lee, for many years we've had a number of conversations, so it's really nice to see you. I'm glad you're still at the university teaching our youth and our future leaders on the importance of competition and economic policy.
I want to ask one question and subsets of it.
Right now in Canada, we have a deficit to GDP of about 1%, or thereabouts. The equivalent in the United States is over 6%. Today BMO came out with a really nice chart. Their deficit for fiscal year 2024 is nearly $2 trillion. If we were running the same deficit to GDP in Canada, which we are not, our deficit would be probably $250 billion and maybe closer to $300 billion.
We in our government have been excellent fiscal stewards in terms of maintaining our AAA credit rating and maintaining a strong fiscal framework. The PBO, in the most recent report on the state of the government finances, when he looked at the national and subnational levels, indicated that as well. It is a strength.
You would have to agree on that level that Canada's fiscal finances are very strong both on an absolute and relative basis. Would you not agree?