Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Let me thank all the witnesses we have here today, because in the short time you were able to present to us, you gave us a whole bunch of information, and I think it's going to be useful.
I'm going to start my questions with Franco Terrazzano of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
Thank you very much for what you do and what you bring to the table here. I've been in Ottawa for two years, and often at all of these committee hearings we hear from those we call “rent-seekers”. They come in and tell us that we need to fund them more through government. They tell us that these are their programs and that we need to fund them, without giving us the other side of the equation and without any consideration for who's paying the bill at the end of the day. It's Canadian taxpayers who are paying the bill.
Thank you for your work and for being here at these pre-budget consultations.
Let's talk about the debt-to-GDP ratio. That ratio has gone from 30%, which we were trying to keep it level at, to 50%, and now the government proposes to keep it at that 50% level even though our GDP is increasing. Can you comment on that quickly, please?