“Normal” is a difficult word to comment on.
What we're facing here in Canada is a series--I apologize for using a technical term--of relative price shocks. The best example of that is the increase in commodity prices. The issue really is how do we best adapt to these relative price shocks, these changes in the reality of the global economy that we're facing.
If you go back to the period around the Asian crisis in 1996-97, the world economy was very weak. Commodity prices were very low, and that was when our dollar dropped down. What we saw through that period was a major shift of resources, including employment into the manufacturing sector. We went through a period where manufacturing employment and production grew very rapidly. This is a bit of a generalization, but what we are going through now is the reverse of that. We've had a very strong global economy, high commodity prices, and our dollar has moved up in response to that. What we're seeing is a shift in resources now, including employment, into the resource sector, but we also have a very strong domestic economy--construction, services.
Your point is absolutely correct. When you look at the aggregate numbers in terms of employment, we've seen sustained high levels of employment, but we've had this difficult adjustment we've been going through. That's why I was emphasizing earlier, in my view, the absolute importance for all governments in this country to continue to work together and independently as required to continue to promote policies that facilitate flexibility and adaptability. These types of shocks aren't going to go away. It's the reality of what we have to face.