I have only five minutes. That's excellent, but this is going to be tough.
Good morning, Minister.
Thank you for joining us.
The country is indeed facing an extremely complex situation. As you have said a number of times, a fog of uncertainty hangs over everyone. This is particularly true for Canada, since our economy is still highly integrated with the American economy. So the fog is denser here than in other places.
One item noted and made public in the economic update is the following. The deficit is lower than forecast in the November budget. The main reason for this decrease of about $11 billion is that income taxes generated higher‑than‑expected revenues. When income taxes generate higher revenues, even in a situation where we lowered the tax rate, it means that the Canadian economy has performed quite well and is quite resilient.
What are your thoughts on this?