Thank you.
There was a report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the OECD, that lists Canada's productivity as having fallen far behind peer countries and projects that we will have the worst economic performance among advanced countries over the next decade, going all the way to 2060. The OECD predicts labour utilization will drag on Canada's GDP-per-capita growth.
We actually had a representative from the Council of Canadian Innovators before this committee recently on this study. He talked about low productivity not being “normal for advanced economies” when we were referring to Canada. He discussed that, if we're not a productive economy compared to our neighbours, it gives Canada less wealth, fewer options and fewer resources for dealing with important challenges. This is important because productivity is relative to standards of living, meaning Canadians' standard of living will continue to decrease compared to other countries.
Why I bring this up is that some of our biggest employers across Canada are governments. Do you believe AI can potentially be used by governments as a tool to try to increase productivity and steer this decreased standard of living trajectory that Canada is currently on?