Finance committee  The decision to lend is a private sector decision. The rates that are decided upon in making those decisions are also private sector decisions. We'll only know after the fact whether the rates are too high.

Finance committee  That's really a question for the government.

Finance committee  The private pension plans that we oversee are 10%; provinces oversee 90%. They are filing their reports now with us. They're due at the end of February. These are the reports as of the end of December. They have to file reports with us indicating what their financial position is

Finance committee  Yes, those are what those plans say. It's due to the decline in the stock market and it's due to very low interest rates.

Finance committee  It would have been closer to full funding. In our case, I think it was around 98%, so it was closer to full funding.

Finance committee  The government has indicated that it would look at a regulation to extend solvency funding, so instead of funding the deficit over five years, you have ten years, which will help the sponsors. I also am aware that the government is conducting consultations in general on the whole

Finance committee  I think that's a question more for the Department of Finance.

Finance committee  Well, in a market-based economy, governments don't usually legislate rates. It's determined by the marketplace. I think some of the measures that have been discussed here, which Mr. Peters just referred to, should be helpful in that regard.

Finance committee  I think one could say that some of the insurance companies have taken some bruises. They still continue to meet all our requirements. I think all institutions now are looking at whether acquisitions should be made, because the share prices of institutions in other countries have

Finance committee  I think we can say the same thing.

Finance committee  Okay. I know that Tiff Macklem was here talking about the G-20 and what he's doing. The regulators are part of that process, and we're really focused on three things: first, whether capital is adequate and how to build buffers in good times so that they can be drawn upon in bad

Finance committee  Thank you for your question. First it's important to understand what OSFI's mandate is. We are responsible for assessing the safety and soundness of Canadian banks and federally incorporated life companies and trust companies and private pension plans. For Canadians, a strong

Finance committee  It's business as usual for us. We will continue to do what we've done in the past, which I think has paid dividends for Canada.

Finance committee  My comments are designed to talk about the fact that Canadian banks today continue to function in the way that banks are supposed to function, whereas their international counterparts do not. Now, it is clear that we are not out of the woods yet, and there continue to be stress

Finance committee  You can look at it week by week. They've come down for Canadian banks and a bit for all banks, but it does change from week to week.