Finance committee  We don't have too many months of data just yet, but last week's data was very interesting because Statistics Canada also released consumer price inflation as well, which showed that prices are going up, so it's weighing on Canadian retailers. If you have a fixed budget, you can o

Finance committee  Absolutely.

Finance committee  Absolutely, and we're hoping that the manufacturing sector will make capital investments to enhance their capacity and respond to demand from markets such as the United States. It's all factored in, but I guess at a higher level I think we're seeing some weakness in Q4. We and

Finance committee  That's the logic.

Finance committee  Correct.

Finance committee  Correct.

Finance committee  Both expense and revenue to some extent, yes.

Finance committee  As part of my job, we're looking at both the monthly income statement and the ultimate annual projection. But yes, we plan on both those bases: our cash requirements on a monthly basis and our ultimate budgetary surplus or deficit on an annual basis.

Finance committee  Correct. GDP inflation is a construct of both domestic inflation measured by consumer price index and your terms of trade, so WTI and other commodity indicators. Ultimately, we take an average of what the private sector tells us for GDP inflation.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. In the previous budget, the previous government had booked a certain amount of savings related to intentions to implement a short-term disability plan. From an accounting perspective, we hold the liability on our balance sheets, which reflects the net

Finance committee  The previous government had given themselves the legislative authority to implement this system. The previous government never did exercise the authority, but in anticipation that they would exercise the authority, the savings were booked. Hopefully that's clear. There was never

Finance committee  I'm certainly not going to argue with the former minister of finance for Alberta about his mathematics.

Finance committee  I think it would be difficult to say that it's merely as a result of the downturn in Alberta, but certainly the lower income in the Canadian economy is being driven by lower commodity prices.

Finance committee  Okay. I think that maybe reframes the question. I think there's Atlantic Canada certainly, with their offshore activity and their winding down of some of their big mega commodity projects as well; Saskatchewan; and B.C., quite surprisingly. We've done some research on the size

Finance committee  This goes back to Mr. Caron's question about fiscal multipliers. The economic theory of it is that if you invest $1 in infrastructure, after eight quarters it has a multiplicative effect in supporting consumption investment in other parts of the economy.