Public Accounts committee  It's difficult to answer that question. It's a $650-billion borrowing program, of which this current year deficit, projected to be in and around $30 billion, is just one part. It's difficult to say whether that deficit in particular is bought or paid for in any one particular per

Public Accounts committee  I think it's a valid question. I just don't have a very good answer here today in terms of—

Public Accounts committee  Absolutely.

Public Accounts committee  I don't think I have anything to add. I think it is a valid question about why we're borrowing more in the two-year tranche. My hypothesis is around liquidity and cost and risk dynamics against our entire $660-billion borrowing program. In terms of exactly how we're matching our

Public Accounts committee  I will say it's internally within the organization. Our internal audit operations would do an annual audit of our debt management strategy. We have international organizations, such as the OECD and IMF, which do an evaluation of our debt management strategy, if not an audit. Lik

Public Accounts committee  The buyers.

Public Accounts committee  Yes.

Public Accounts committee  No, I wouldn't say that. The lenders are diverse. There are obviously some lenders who have a lot of appetite at the short end of the curve because they want that one- or two-year term, but pension funds are dying for the long-term paper because they need to match their obligatio

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, I would respectfully say that I don't think it's just the more or less interest argument. I believe that at the long end of the curve, they need the appropriate durations to match against their own liabilities. This stakeholder group of the lenders is diverse across th

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, I'll just say that our debt management strategy is included as part of the budget. It forms part of the budget in terms of how we'll finance our cash requirements for the year, so it is subject to some parliamentary scrutiny. I would just come back to say that the gov

Public Accounts committee  I'll be very quick. With respect to CMHC, it does provide, in its annual report, the full detail of its stress-testing scenarios. It takes its own balance sheets and stress-tests them with various economic shocks. One of the most extreme shocks is a U.S.-style housing collaps

Public Accounts committee  Yes, exactly. It imposes the equivalent of a U.S.-style housing crisis in Canada—sorry, I wasn't clear in my first answer. Unemployment would go from 7% to about 11% or 12%. Housing prices would decline by about 20% to 30%, harmonized across the country. It shows the effect on th

Public Accounts committee  I did right up until the last statement, in the sense that—

Public Accounts committee  I can't argue with that, Mr. Chair—

Public Accounts committee  The government doesn't invest the money, that's the only—