I am going to say two things in reply to this question.
First, I would say that this is what Canadians are expecting of us. They want us to grow the economy and support the middle class when it faces difficulties.
Secondly, I would point out that we could have acted otherwise by reducing the government's expenditures by about $18 billion to take into account the serious downturn in economic growth. This $18 billion comes from the fact that in 2015, we experienced a six-month recession, and in addition, economic growth over the past few years has been very weak. We could have reduced expenditures by $18 billion. You know that $18 billion corresponds in general terms to the assistance families are currently receiving from the Canadian government. It is equivalent to nine times what we spend to support social housing, and to about 200 times what we spend to combat homelessness, to half of all employment insurance benefits, as well as to half of everything we contribute to Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement.
We could have done that, but we chose a different approach. I think our approach is preferable.