I don't think I'll provide too many specific comments on the diagnostic around the subprime situation, particularly in the United States, that also has an impact in Canada. I know there's been other testimony from other independent organizations. The Governor of the Bank of Canada, Mr. Carney, in front of the finance committee has talked about that and its relationship with Canada.
I actually think, sir, your diagnostic is right. Particularly in boom times--we've seen this with different bubbles as we look back--we tend to lower our guard with respect to how we look at risk, particularly with issues around transparency. There was an enormous amount of complexity, specifically with those kinds of transactions, and things simply got out of hand.
There is a relationship--I think this is your point--between that and specifically how we look at expenditure management in the government. I read a quote recently by Leonardo da Vinci, I think, that simplicity is basically the best form of sophistication.
We need to worry about whether or not we find the estimates to be overly complicated. If you can't get the kind of answer, sir, that you raised earlier around a 900% increase in a line item in a vote appropriation, that's an issue that's actually not that far different from the issue we're experiencing on the subprime stuff.
How can a parliamentary budget officer help? I think, like the work of this committee in 2003 in terms of pushing transparency and pushing simplicity, it's working with you in terms of best practices around the estimates. It's also by having a careful eye, sir, which you alluded to in your previous question around those big material increases that show up in estimates from time to time, so that we flag this. I think that is a fundamental role of a parliamentary budget officer.