Industry committee  This is also true for the institutions in the insurance sector, because they are among the five or six biggest insurance companies in the world. There are several ways to answer your question. Is it better to be a good place to work? That is one way in which to answer. Or is it

Industry committee  I think it's the same story for the financial services sector. We're heavily in the United States, so even though we may not have been directly affected by the subprime events in the United States, we rely on that economy. Now, the forecasters are still saying there will be gro

Industry committee  In terms of savings rates?

Industry committee  I'd have to go and look at the data. Certainly, I think in countries where capital markets are more developed you might find over time savings have gone down as people are more comfortable investing in capital markets and equities and corporate debt and that kind of thing, but I

Industry committee  On the first point, as these companies acquire entities abroad and establish operations in China, it's conceivable that the proportion of their income that's coming from abroad will grow. Insurance, especially the large guys, has always had a really healthy and strong internatio

Industry committee  Yes. You want to talk to Scotiabank, or Manulife. I work on the trade files myself, so I hear from them all the time. They find these pieces of infrastructure really helpful when they're going abroad.

Industry committee  Manulife and Sun Life are large demutualized insurers, and the government policy position is that they have to remain widely held. So there is, I guess, a policy prohibition in place for anyone to acquire those entities. Great-West is a little different. It's owned privately by

Industry committee  Yes. It's on the financial services element. We have companies like Scotiabank who are really active in some of the small emerging markets. There are the free trade negotiations we're trying to do, for example, right now with Peru, and we just finished a financial services chapt

Industry committee  The financial institutions established here in Canada come under our department. We must always maintain a balance between the consumers and the industry. The companies must be very strong, because that generates spinoffs for the people who are shareholders in the banks and for r

Industry committee  Here, in Canada, there are very few sub-prime loans, and that is a good thing for us, but the institutions did invest in some securities where there was a bit of that. According to their recent results, the banks seem more or less comfortable and seem to be able to manage their i

Industry committee  Thank you very much. I want to talk to you today a little about what we could pull together quickly for the committee on the financial services sector. I'm open to responding to questions and getting you more information, depending on the questions you might have. I'll give you