Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you once again for coming to discuss the Public Accounts with us, Mr. Matthews. As a number of us are new to this committee, we have several questions we would like to ask so we can understand how these figures are calculated.
I will speak in English and French, but I have before me the English document, which is entitled Public Accounts of Canada 2016.
I am on page 1.19 of volume 1 of the English version, and I would like to understand how you have come up with the net debt figure and what the asset base consists of.
The chart on this page shows how Canada's debt-to-GDP ratio compares with those of the other G7 countries. Do all these countries, including Canada, use the same accounting rules to calculate their debt-to-GDP ratios? Canada, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, and all the other G7 countries are compared in this document.
Here is an excerpt from that page in English:
Canada’s total government net debt-to-GDP ratio...stood at 26.7 per cent in 2015. This is the lowest level among Group of Seven (G7) countries, which the IMF expects will record an average net debt of 83.0 per cent of GDP for the same year.
When you compare Canada with the other countries, it seems to be in excellent financial shape. However, does everyone use the same rules to calculate debt-to-GDP ratios?