Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Madam Minister, thank you for being here today. I know there is a by‑election coming up, but we're in a different role today.
I also want to thank your colleagues for coming here today. It's great to see such a power group of women. We really appreciate your coming today to discuss the supplementary estimates.
However, I'm a little bit troubled. Inflation, of course, is at 6.9% right now. The numbers just came out last week. This is from the high of 8.1% that we saw in June. There are certainly many discussions internationally about the reasons for these high inflation rates that we're seeing. Of course, we see the price of oil increasing as a result of the war in Ukraine. Coming from the Prairies—Alberta—I'm always interested in the price of oil. We understand that it's as a result of China and supply chains.
Many economists, including Jon Hartley and John Cochrane, who wrote this article I'm referring to here, as well as one of my favourites, Jack Mintz, agree that the main cause of this inflation crisis that we're seeing in Canada is inflationary spending.
You, Madame Fortier, are responsible for the spending for the Government of Canada. Wouldn't you have to say that you are responsible for the inflationary crisis we're seeing now as a result of inflationary spending, as President of the Treasury Board in overseeing this?