Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My questions are for Professor Dehejia.
I appreciate all of the witnesses coming in today, and it's great to have the professor back with us as well.
Professor, obviously we're looking at the budget and the BIA process. When I first got here back in September, the government at the time was blaming inflation pretty much predominantly on the global pandemic. Sometimes inflation would be blamed on other global phenomena, and recently the blame seems more pointed towards the war in Ukraine—although that's only been with us for a short time compared to the pandemic itself. The pandemic was primarily blamed for issues like supply chain issues, shortages and inflation in particular, and now the war is blamed for those.
In your opinion as an economist, can you speak to, number one, those insights from the government on where the blame falls, if any? Also, perhaps look at some glaring missteps in this budget that most certainly could have given Canadians some relief in their pocketbooks.
Thank you.