Finance committee  On that point, I will point out that the budgetary balance has improved sharply over the last couple of years following the increase from pandemic emergency supports. The fact that the budgetary balance has improved sharply also provides a signal of declining net stimulus provided by fiscal policy over that period of time.

Finance committee  There are two parts to that question. In terms of the fiscal advantage, the risk premium associated with the government's obligations, for example, may be lower. So that allows us to have interest rates in the long term that are lower than in other economies, which is an advantage for Canada.

Finance committee  The long-term estimates set out in the budget do show that the federal government's debt should be virtually eliminated by 2055‑56. The Parliamentary Budget Officer's estimates also suggest elimination of the debt at approximately the same point. Did your question also relate to the provinces?

Finance committee  Obviously, these are not forecasts. What they are is actually scenarios based on a certain number of reasonable economic assumptions. That doesn't include the effects of future recessions and the major challenges that we might have to deal with. Essentially, it shows that maintaining the downward trend of the federal debt to GDP ratio will enable us to meet those challenges.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question on interest rates. As you alluded to, yes, interest rates are higher than they have been in a while. This is acting to slow the economy now. Inflation is expected to slow as well throughout the year. Given that, expectations are that rates will start to go down next year and return to what we call the “neutral rate“ of interest, which is between 2% and 3%.