Mr. Chair, I would make reference to paragraph 7.21, where we talk about the fact that the Department of Finance uses a number of assumptions and about the work that we do around that.
Essentially, we first look at the process in terms of how Finance itself would know that the assumptions it used are reasonable ones or would stand some challenge. They do look at the validity of them by comparing with other forecasters, by looking at peers.
We look at it in terms of ranges. And that is why you also have the sensitivity analysis to say that because it's not precise, it could be off by a bit, and if it's off by a certain percentage, what the implications might be in the long term.
All of those things are done to give it that rigour in terms of that analysis. Again, I have to re-emphasize that these are projections and not predictions. I would not associate the word “accuracy” with any of these numbers. It's to give the policymakers an idea of the impact of this going out a number of years, whether it's going to help the overall financial outlook of the country in the long run or not, whether in the long term we have to raise taxes or cut other benefits because of decisions made today. It's to help support those kinds of informed decisions.