Governor, thanks for being here today.
It's good to hear the comments you've made. More than anything else, I think my wife and many others in Canada keep wondering how we made adjustments for a 2% increase in interest rates over the past couple of years. It's to that question that I'd like to canvass some thoughts from you, as to the relationship of the U.S. current account deficit, which you alluded to a little earlier, and its impacts, not just on the Canadian dollar, but, more importantly, for manufacturing and for Canadian consumers.
I note comments you have here suggesting that crude oil will be in the area of $70 U.S. I was relieved to read that. It certainly goes against some of the commentary that's been made by speculators in the industry and various brokerage houses over the past couple of days. British thermal units at $10 U.S. per million, of course, is a reflection of the fact that although the level of supply is still there, if you look at a five-year average, demand and supply, with some exceptions, is static. We see European demand is dropping.
We know there is a certain degree of supply available to meet the world...save and except for the issue of speculation. One thing that seems out of the control of parliamentarians, and perhaps the control of Canadians in general, is the issue of the U.S. current account deficit and its impacts on those two bottom lines for manufacturing. I was wondering if you could shed some light on that.