Finance committee  That's about 10 years after it was promised to be. Let's move from deficit to debt. What are your numbers for where the current federal debt stands?

Finance committee  Sure, but what I'm actually interested in is the number.

Finance committee  Almost $700 billion.

Finance committee  What are the current interest payments on that debt?

Finance committee  Sure. In the mandate letter that the Prime Minister gave to the Minister of Finance, he identified meeting the government's fiscal anchors as one of the top priorities, saying: Ensure that our fiscal plan is sustainable by meeting our fiscal anchors of balancing the budget in 2019/20 and continuing to reduce the federal debt-to-GDP ratio throughout our mandate.

Finance committee  Are you saying that it hasn't abandoned this so there's some possibility that this could occur?

Finance committee  Thank you very much. I have a number of topics that I want to try to ask you about. Hopefully we can get to them all. The first one relates to your February 21 report, which said, “PBO found that the Pension Act regime”, which was in place from 2006 to April 1 of this year, “is the most generous for the veterans”.

Finance committee  Let's touch on the April 30 report, not today's report. You indicated this quote in your opening remarks, “For 2018-19, we expect the budgetary balance will show a deficit of $15.7 billion”. You go on to say, “We project the budgetary deficit to increase to $22.3 billion in 2020-21”.

Finance committee  Some of you will know this and others may not. In my previous career, before I got into politics, I was in real estate. I helped folks sell and buy homes. This reminds me, actually, of some of the situations I found myself in, in those circumstances. Sometimes what you'd get is that someone would say, “I know we have a contract here that says X, Y, and Z, and this is the price of the home and this is the closing date, and all the conditions that go with that, but you know what?

Finance committee  I'll pass.

Finance committee  Thanks, Mr. Chair. I guess this is kind of similar to what I had tried to move earlier as a subamendment, so obviously I'm in favour of it. I want to take just a little bit of time to explain why. First, I'd like to just get to the question that was raised about the officials.

Finance committee  My understanding, Mr. Chair, is actually that we are.

Finance committee  If my understanding of the amendment is correct, he was seeking to delete sections 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 11, so sections 2 and 7 are actually the subjects—

Finance committee  They are the objects of the amendment—

Finance committee  In fact, the two sections that he is indicating, Mr. Chair, are the whole point of the amendment, which is to make sure that we have the opportunity to debate and vote upon those two particular sections.