It is a really important point. Look, inflation was high in 2022. Inflation is back down—it's been around 2% for two years—but the price level is still higher. It has a long tail. Canadians are feeling that. They're feeling this in the cost of living. Our job is to keep inflation at about 2%. We're not going to lower the price level. Lowering the entire price level would have a very negative effect on the Canadian economy. You'd have to have a big recession, and nobody wants that.
The question is, how do you make things more affordable? You have to grow the top line. If there's more income, then things are more affordable. How do you get more income? Well, you need to be more competitive. You need to be more productive. Businesses need to sell more products. They need to create more jobs. Productivity is what pays higher wages. Those things will increase incomes and make things more affordable.
To go back a bit, economists call it productivity. Canadians call it cost of living. It's the same thing.