Thank you, Chair. I'm certainly glad to have the minister here with us today.
Sitting here, listening to the questions and being a relatively new MP, I'm glad you mentioned COVID-19, because I think you've steered the ship through likely the most turbulent time, possibly, in the history of our country. I think you and your team need to be well respected for that. We're not out of the woods yet. We understand that, but with everything that is going on around the world and our placement among different levels of economic value, it's been extremely good. Again, we need to continue.
Similar to many G7 partners, we're experiencing elevated levels of inflation due to a unique combination of global factors, obviously, with the invasion of Ukraine, or supply chains and pent-up demand. While Canada has fared better in comparison to many countries regarding inflation, we must be cautious that our measures to support Canadians don't inadvertently make the inflation issue worse.
We've talked about targeted investments. The measure to cancel interest on student loans will deliver financial relief to students, while avoiding a large infusion of stimulus into the economy in a way that broad-based cheques would produce, which we've seen in some provinces. Was a decision to take this measure of cancelling debt on student loans and apprenticeship loans chosen in part due to its ability to provide relief to those who need it without running the risk of inflationary challenges?