Industry committee  For sure, and this will go back to some of MP Jowhari's questions related to some of the other things we can think of in the World Bank doing business measure. We mentioned dealing with construction permits. What about getting electricity hooked up? Canadian cities or businesses in the city of Toronto are way behind the rest of the world in terms of this metric.

Industry committee  Yes, very much so, the reason being that the C.D. Howe Institute has a competition policy council, and this is comprised of top-ranked academics and practitioners active in the field of competition policy. I wanted to point the committee to that group's work. It's on a number of these points that you've asked about and the committee has raised.

Industry committee  Let me put those numbers in the context of some of the broader debates that we have heard around the world over the last 60-plus years. Think about wealth and equality. You think of the findings you have seen around the world of wealthier people getting richer and richer. If you look at the trend around the world, the increase in housing costs has driven almost all of that.

Industry committee  I do absolutely. The key is to find the right balance of local input into planning processes, so that people who are residents of an area, whose largest investment is their home, have a stake in their ability to see the future of their community but at the same time not so much power that they restrict development.

Industry committee  Let me know if you want to do an audio test.

Industry committee  How's that? Is that better?

Industry committee  Perfect. I'll continue. Apologies for that.

Industry committee  Vancouver's cost of housing restrictions are by far the largest in Canada, resulting in a 50% extra cost that's on par with similar studies measuring the extra costs in places like Manhattan. At the other end of the spectrum, home-buying costs in Montreal have stayed pretty close to construction costs.

Industry committee  Thank you very much for the invitation to join you today. I want to relate the economic harm of excess permit costs to Canadian homebuyers and small businesses today. First, let's look at permit costs to people looking to get into the housing market. Restrictions on housing supply and extra costs hinder the efficiency of the housing market.