Finance Committee on March 15th, 2012
Evidence of meeting #49 for Finance in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was approval.
A recording is available from Parliament.
On the agenda
MPs speaking
Also speaking
- Diane Lafleur General Director, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance
- Jane Pearse Director, Financial Institutions Division, Department of Finance
- Wayne Cole Procedural Clerk
- Eleanor Ryan Senior Chief, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance
3:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair James Rajotte
I call this meeting to order, the 49th meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance. The orders of the day, pursuant to the order of reference of Tuesday, February 14, 2012, are Bill S-5, An Act to amend the law governing financial institutions and to provide for related and consequential matters.
We're very pleased to have officials here from the Department of Finance. We have Ms. Diane Lafleur. We have Ms. Jane Pearse, Ms. Leah Anderson, Ms. Eleanor Ryan, Mr. Joseph de Pencier, and Mr. Khusro Saeedi. Thank you all for being with us. You're here obviously for any questions members may have.
Colleagues, we have nine amendments from the official opposition. The first amendment I have deals with clause 53, so we will go through clause-by-clause consideration, and as you know, pursuant to Standing Order 75.1, consideration of clause 1 is postponed. Therefore, the chair will call clause 2.
Now, I'd like to proceed.... Mr. Julian.
3:30 p.m.
NDP
Peter Julian Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Before you actually start the clause by clause, I believe Mr. Mai has a question around approvals, which isn't within any clause in the bill itself. Once you've explored how we go about tackling this in a quick way, we could perhaps—
3:30 p.m.
Conservative
3:30 p.m.
NDP
Peter Julian Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
It will be a general question, but it may take a little bit of time to be answered.
3:30 p.m.
Conservative
3:30 p.m.
NDP
Hoang Mai Brossard—La Prairie, QC
It's a question to the officials. Basically it's about trying to know how to move forward on that issue or just a clarification. So it's something that the officials may—
3:30 p.m.
Conservative
3:30 p.m.
NDP
Hoang Mai Brossard—La Prairie, QC
It doesn't relate to a clause in the bill, but it relates to some of the information that we have regarding the briefing notes from the department.
3:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair James Rajotte
Okay. You can do it at the last clause, or you can do it now if you want.
When would you prefer to do it?
3:30 p.m.
NDP
3:30 p.m.
Conservative
3:30 p.m.
NDP
Hoang Mai Brossard—La Prairie, QC
According to the information we received, the minister has 30 days to indicate his intention with respect to the acquisition, and if no decision is made in that time, the acquisition is automatically approved. If I understand that correctly, we are referring here to the Bank Act.
To give you some context, we're talking about acquisitions of foreign entities. So the question is to find out why ministerial approval is established in the case of certain acquisitions of foreign entities. Now, if the minister doesn't respond within 30 days, the acquisition is automatically approved. When Minister Menzies appeared before the committee, he said that an in-depth study on the foreign entities was required and that it was important for the consolidation of Canada's banks.
I would like to know how we could ensure that approval is not automatically given. The minister's authorization should really be required. We don't agree with that, but that's another story.
3:30 p.m.
Diane Lafleur General Director, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance
The general practice is that the superintendent reviews the proposed transaction and sends a recommendation in writing to the minister. We, the department members, attach our recommendation to the superintendent's. Lastly, the minister approves or does not approve the transaction. In practice, approval happens. It's explicit.
3:30 p.m.
NDP
Hoang Mai Brossard—La Prairie, QC
Could we make sure that it isn't implicit, meaning that the acquisition isn't automatically approved if the minister doesn't respond within 30 days?
3:35 p.m.
General Director, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance
In practice, the minister signs the transaction. So he does it explicitly. It's on paper; it's documented.