Speech (committee meeting)

{
    "time": "2016-11-03 16:00:00",
    "attribution": {
        "en": "Mr. Jo\u00ebl Godin (Portneuf\u2014Jacques-Cartier, CPC)",
        "fr": "M. Jo\u00ebl Godin (Portneuf\u2014Jacques-Cartier, PCC)"
    },
    "content": {
        "en": "<p data-HoCid=\"4633741\" data-originallang=\"fr\">Thank you, Mr. Chair.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4633742\" data-originallang=\"fr\">Thanks to the witnesses for taking part in this exercise. You are, in a way, our eyes. We believe in the competence of the people who have worked on the drafting of these reports. That is very much appreciated.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4633743\" data-originallang=\"fr\">As you will see, I will not be going into any depth. The objective is above all to have you give us tools that we can use to do a better job as parliamentarians and to ensure that public funds are being well-used.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4633744\" data-originallang=\"fr\"> First, I am going to read the last paragraph in the document entitled <em>2015-2016 financial highlights</em>. This is on page 1.2 under the heading \u201cFinancial statements discussion and analysis\u201d. It reads as follows:</p>\n<blockquote><p data-HoCid=\"4633745\" data-originallang=\"fr\"> 1.2 As reported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Canada's total government net debt-to-GDP ratio, which includes the net debt of the federal, provincial/territorial and local governments, as well as the net assets held in the Canada Pension Plan and Qu\u00e9bec Pension Plan, stood at 26.7 per cent in 2015. This is the lowest level among Group of Seven (G7) countries, which the IMF expects will record an average net debt of 83.0 per cent of GDP for the same year. </p>\n</blockquote><p data-HoCid=\"4633746\" data-originallang=\"fr\">Since the variance here is nearly 60%, I would like you to explain this situation to me. I understand that the previous government did an excellent job, but this is a large variance. I would like to know the reasons for it. I would venture to say the figure is gigantic. It seems to me we cannot be top of the class when everyone is on the third basement level. So much the better if that is the case.</p>",
        "fr": "<p data-HoCid=\"4633741\" data-originallang=\"fr\">Merci, monsieur le pr\u00e9sident.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4633742\" data-originallang=\"fr\">Je remercie les t\u00e9moins de se pr\u00eater \u00e0 cet exercice. Vous \u00eates en quelque sorte nos yeux. Nous croyons effectivement en la comp\u00e9tence des gens qui ont travaill\u00e9 \u00e0 la r\u00e9daction de ces rapports. C'est tr\u00e8s appr\u00e9ci\u00e9.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4633743\" data-originallang=\"fr\"> Comme vous pourrez le constater, je n'irai pas en profondeur. L'objectif est avant tout que vous nous donniez des outils qui nous permettront de mieux faire notre travail de parlementaires et de nous assurer que les deniers publics sont bien utilis\u00e9s.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4633744\" data-originallang=\"fr\"> Je vais d'abord faire la lecture du dernier paragraphe du document intitul\u00e9 <em>Faits saillants financiers de 2015-2016</em>. C'est \u00e0 la page 1.2 sous la rubrique \u00ab Analyse des \u00e9tats financiers \u00bb. On peut y lire ce qui suit:</p>\n<blockquote><p data-HoCid=\"4633745\" data-originallang=\"fr\"> 1.2 Analyse des \u00e9tats financiers - Comme l\u2019a signal\u00e9 le Fonds mon\u00e9taire international (FMI), le ratio de la dette nette au PIB de l\u2019ensemble des administrations publiques du Canada, qui inclut la dette nette des administrations f\u00e9d\u00e9rales, provinciales, territoriales et locales ainsi que les actifs nets d\u00e9tenus dans le R\u00e9gime de pensions du Canada et le R\u00e9gime de rentes du Qu\u00e9bec, s\u2019est \u00e9tabli \u00e0 26,7 pour cent en 2015. Il s\u2019agit du meilleur r\u00e9sultat \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9chelle des pays du Groupe des Sept (G7), qui, d\u2019apr\u00e8s les estimations du FMI, devraient afficher un ratio moyen de la dette nette au PIB de 83,0 pour cent pour cette m\u00eame ann\u00e9e. </p>\n</blockquote><p data-HoCid=\"4633746\" data-originallang=\"fr\">\u00c9tant donn\u00e9 que l'\u00e9cart est pr\u00e8s de 60 %, j'aimerais que vous me donniez des explications \u00e0 ce sujet. Je sais bien que le pr\u00e9c\u00e9dent gouvernement a fait de l'excellent travail, mais l'\u00e9cart est grand. J'aimerais savoir \u00e0 quoi cela est d\u00fb. J'oserais qualifier ce chiffre de gigantesque. Il me semble qu'on ne peut pas \u00eatre premier de classe alors que tout le monde est au troisi\u00e8me sous-sol. Si c'est le cas, tant mieux.</p>"
    },
    "url": "/committees/public-accounts/42-1/31/joel-godin-1/",
    "politician_url": "/politicians/joel-godin/",
    "politician_membership_url": "/politicians/memberships/4442/",
    "procedural": false,
    "source_id": "9220128",
    "document_url": "/committees/public-accounts/42-1/31/",
    "related": {
        "document_speeches_url": "/speeches/?document=%2Fcommittees%2Fpublic-accounts%2F42-1%2F31%2F"
    }
}