Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.
Indeed, that is very worrisome. We, the parliamentarians, the lawmakers of the House, need the Parliamentary Budget Officer's analyses. I would like to commend him and his team. They are doing a fantastic job. They have been working crazy hours during the pandemic. It is ridiculous. They are telling us that they are unable to assign a precise dollar figure to everything and that they cannot access everything they need to give us a clear picture.
We make our decisions based on what the Parliamentary Budget Officer tells us. That is unacceptable. The government must be more transparent.
The government is spending astronomical amounts. It is spending like it never has before, at least in peacetime.
Unfortunately, as I was saying in my speech—I am not sure if I was able to make my point before my Internet connection gave out—the least we can do is compensate businesses and individuals for lost income due to health restrictions. For things to get back to normal, what economics from the last century tell us is that we need effective stabilizing mechanisms.
However, the money has to be spent effectively and smartly. What we saw this spring and summer was people who said that they could go work in acceptable health conditions, but that it was more lucrative to not work and stay home. That does not work. It is a disaster from an economic standpoint.