Finance committee  Just to clarify, is that an official request? I mean, it is your privilege to ask these kinds of questions to the PBO.

Finance committee  We'll clarify with the chair the real question, the exact question, that you're asking. We can check the blues, but—

Finance committee  I'll ask Chris, who is the expert on oil prices, to answer that question.

Finance committee  No. After several months of negotiations, because we made some offers...and we offered some protocol. If you remember, the last time we were here we mentioned that we even offered to pay for a certain series of data. At the end of the negotiations, we offered to go for a joint reference to Federal Court, and the CRA turned down that offer.

Finance committee  As I mentioned to the CRA commissioner, I would like to clarify his interpretation and PBO's interpretation, legal interpretation, of the CRA's...about the taxpayers' data.

Finance committee  So 15% of the families will receive higher benefits. The fiscal impact of the family tax cut, or what you call the income splitting, is $2.2 billion in 2015.

Finance committee  Our report doesn't say anything about whether it's a good or bad idea. The report is essentially on the fiscal costs of such a measure and the long-term impact of it. I mean, saving is of course a good thing for everyone, depending on the capacity you have to save that kind of money.

Finance committee  Okay. I just have a correction. The 15% household that you mentioned is related to the family tax cut, not to the TFSA.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. I'll ask Mostafa Askari and maybe Chris Matier to answer that question.

Finance committee  Good morning, Mr. Chair, vice-chairs and members of the committee. Thank you for the invitation to appear and discuss our April 2015 economic and fiscal outlook. Today, I am joined by Dr. Mostafa Askari, Assistant Parliamentary Budget Officer, Chris Matier, a senior director, and Scott Cameron, an analyst.

Finance committee  Thank you.

Finance committee  As I mentioned, we have a problem with DND for various reasons, in not having access to information; I think we mentioned that several times. One of the problems is that last year, in response to one of our requests, they made a comment that was outside the scope, based on their own assumptions.

Finance committee  Thank you for your question. Yes, your figures are correct. The report states that a 50% confidence level equates to four ships. Raising that level to 80% would raise not only the likelihood of it being done, of course, but also the cost. The real answer to all of this is that there is a domino effect.

Finance committee  I am going to ask Scott to answer that.

Finance committee  I'll ask Helen to answer.