Public Accounts committee  Again, Mr. Chair—

Public Accounts committee  I'm sure that members will understand that we're not in a position to comment on a specific company—

Public Accounts committee  —a specific event or a specific set of circumstances. I do think it's important to stand back. The basic objective of that program was to rapidly deliver financial assistance to maintain the working relationship between a company and its employees. If, in a circumstance where there have been lockouts etc., again, I can't comment on specifics.

Public Accounts committee  We are in the process of checking those amounts, together with our colleagues from the Canada Revenue Agency and other federal departments. I cannot give you any exact figures right now. We recognize that, given the scope of the financial and human crisis caused by the pandemic, the government's priority was to act very quickly, and rightly so in my opinion.

Public Accounts committee  I cannot give you a specific timeframe. We are working with our colleagues as quickly as possible. We are well aware of how important an issue this is. As to your second question, I do not want to speculate right now on the order of magnitude. We have some work to do.

Public Accounts committee  The answer to that question is pretty straightforward. Based on the International Monetary Fund's comparisons that they do across countries, Canada—on a debt-to-GDP basis—has the most favourable debt-to-GDP ratio of any country in the G7. It's a similar story of strength on the deficit, as well.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, by and large, those transfers have been used and, in effect, consumed substantially by all of the provinces, whether they were transfers to support the health care system in provinces or whether they were designed to facilitate the reopening of schools. There were a variety of different measures that the government took at the time.

Public Accounts committee  As a result of substantially improving the deficit track that the government laid out both in the past and certainly in the most recent budget, the financial requirements of the Government of Canada are declining. As a result of that, needless to say, our debt management strategy reflects that because we need to borrow less.

Public Accounts committee  Madam Chair, before you adjourn, could I just make one comment?

Public Accounts committee  Thank you. Madam Chair, I just want to return to Mr. Lawrence's comment with respect to the timing of the delivery of documents. I think that's a reasonable comment on his part, but I also want to assure members of the committee that there are literally thousands of pages here and that translation takes a significant amount of time.

Public Accounts committee  First let me pick up on Bob's comment with respect to digitization. I think there is a consensus across the government about the importance of pressing ahead and indeed accelerating what the government's doing on digitization. There is a substantial amount of investment in the recent budget for precisely that purpose and to assist the Canada Revenue Agency in what they're doing so that Canadians can interact with the Canada Revenue Agency on a more efficient and purely digital basis.

Public Accounts committee  —and should be a part of the kind of analysis that we would otherwise always do.

Public Accounts committee  Through you, Madam Chair, Mr. Green, you're asking us to speculate at this point, which is difficult for us to do. Certainly, in a report of that kind, we will be, as I think is appropriate and as I think you would acknowledge, careful with respect to either individual specific information—

Public Accounts committee  Madam Chair, through you, I think those three categories that Mr. Green has just identified are quite reasonable—

Public Accounts committee  Madam Chair, I wasn't new at that point—