Public Accounts committee  We could get back with the right answer. I think the right answer is the note 1 to the table. The restatement may be seen as balanced for both internal and external, and the answer is different because of the restatement. I'm quite sure it's that. We'll double-check and get back with an answer.

Public Accounts committee  The government has a plan to balance, and part of that plan is to control spending. There is some control of spending for sure. I will not comment on the word “slashing”. If we go into detail and we look at transfers to persons and transfers to other levels of governance, that spending has been growing year after year.

Public Accounts committee  Maybe my colleague can answer.

Public Accounts committee  I just want to make sure we're looking at the right year. Are we talking about 2012?

Public Accounts committee  Could you repeat your question slowly? It's just that I don't see anything off in that column.

Public Accounts committee  Yes. The government has for a number of years decided to put an adjustment for risk, a provision in the fiscal framework of $3 billion per year to hedge against unexpected economic shocks. Effectively in 2012-13, as I was mentioning before, nominal GDP has been reduced significantly through the year because of global development and fairly weak commodity prices and weak domestic prices.

Public Accounts committee  I would fully support this.

Public Accounts committee  This is a prudent approach to budgeting. It's supported by the IMF, the private sector economies we consult for, and the OECD. This is always viewed as a very appropriate and prudent approach to budgeting.

Public Accounts committee  For 2012-13 it's basically that there was a small increase in the size of the debt because of the deficit, which was more than offset by lower effective interest rates because of the fall in interest rates observed through that whole year. This explains the fall in interest rates.

Public Accounts committee  You're perfectly right. If we don't eliminate the deficit before interest rates increase, it will compound and create more pressure on the fiscal framework.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, this is for Canada. This table tries to explain what happened between the beginning of the year, when we had budget 2012, and when we closed the accounts, showing how nominal GDP evolved compared with what was expected. We were expecting 4.6% and we ended up in March and June at 3.1% and then up a little bit, at 3.4%.

Public Accounts committee  I think the government would surely agree with it, and most people would agree with the idea that we need to diversity our trade to ensure that we are not hostage to any development happening in the U.S. The recent agreement with Europe in that respect is very useful in trying to diversify our trade.

Public Accounts committee  Well, the best way to describe the importance of it for every Canadian is to consider that back in those days, effectively one-third of every dollar in tax collected by the government was used to pay down interest, to service the debt. It was not directed specifically towards current services or used, for example, to fund new programs or reduce taxes; it was used to pay down interest on the debt.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Despite being fairly weak over 2012–13, Canada's economy relative to other advanced economies is still doing very well. Again, despite exports being fairly weak in that year because of global developments, the domestic economy, which is consumption and investment by business, has been fairly strong in Canada's housing sector.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, sir, we're doing pretty well there too, compared to other G-7 countries, compared to most advanced economies, although there are also advanced countries that do well in that respect, fairly small countries. With respect to Canada, to explain that again, this includes the federal government, all the provincial governments, the Canada Pension Plan and the Quebec Pension Plan.