Public Accounts committee  I think it is probably true to say that there were a lot of people who were putting pressure on for changes. I don't think any of the changes that were introduced in Canada really led us down that path. Indeed, probably from a regulatory supervisory point of view, and indeed from

Public Accounts committee  Yes, but I don't think in ways that fundamentally changed the Canadian system. I think there were probably pressures to move beyond where we went. I think now with the financial crisis, there's even less motivation to even consider those things. I think perhaps we've learned a le

Public Accounts committee  —that other people went.

Public Accounts committee  I understand.

Public Accounts committee  The standard practice for SAC would be to meet at least on a quarterly basis, but we meet more frequently when required. During the financial crisis, as Diane said, sometimes there was a meeting a couple of times a day. We have a very flexible agenda. We have some long-standing p

Public Accounts committee  I don't know whether it's unique. I think it's probably pretty unusual. I asked the other day how long it has been in existence in Canada. It has been in existence for a long time. It's a supple mechanism. There are only five principals. At the meeting we have other people, but w

Public Accounts committee  I can't answer that question because I only became Deputy Minister of Finance in September 2009. I'm told that the committee started to meet quite regularly. The financial crisis was unfolding in real time and all of the institutions, including SAC, had to respond to this crisis

Public Accounts committee  I think that's an issue of securities regulation, which at the moment is done at the provincial level. I think one of the things you're proposing to do as the Government of Canada is to put in place a Canadian securities regulator, and part of that would be an enhanced and robust

Public Accounts committee  We think it would be better if there were a Canadian securities regulator.

Public Accounts committee  I might make several comments. First, on some of your initial remarks, I think one of the strengths of the Canadian system is not only that we have regulations, but we have supervision, so we enforce the regulations, and I think we have a robust--if I can put it this way--Superin

Public Accounts committee  Well, I think the short answer is that at the Department of Finance we do the tax legislation and the regulations, but the actual enforcement of that is with the Canada Revenue Agency. They have mechanisms in place to ensure the enforcement and auditing to ensure that tax evasion

Public Accounts committee  They're responsible—

Public Accounts committee  When it comes to tax collection, they're the agency responsible for tax collection.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, and that's a responsibility for the Canada Revenue Agency.

Public Accounts committee  Well, we subjected ourselves to international reviews through the IMF and the Financial Stability Board. We've had those reviews periodically. I think, generally speaking, we rate very well internationally. We are going through another review, which is just about to start. We've