Finance committee  You see that we, as a cooperative movement and financial group, have taken the trouble of emphasizing infrastructure within one of our three recommendations. It seems absolutely clear to us that a little catching-up went into infrastructure, but that there remains a lot to be d

Finance committee  That's right, absolutely. Overall, in our opinion, we're well situated on the world scene. That's why we think that the budget should continue to stay the course. It was the momentum of staying the course. Earlier you talked to me about the deficit. These are things that shou

Finance committee  Yes, definitely. Regarding household debt, I already mentioned that three measures had been taken concerning mortgage debt. The debt level depends heavily on the profile of the investor or the person. Actually it varies a lot depending on age level and income level. The matter

Finance committee  I beg your pardon?

Finance committee  Absolutely, it's very important.

Finance committee  Honestly, I couldn't give an opinion on this.

Finance committee  I think that the budget cuts are something that will have to be done. However, we don't have to make them all in the same way, across the board, using percentages. Some elements may have less priority than others. That is really where the exercise should be focused. In other word

Finance committee  Are you asking how much investment would be necessary for Canada as a whole?

Finance committee  I can't give you a specific figure, but I'd be happy to send you our economic studies on this matter. I couldn't give you an exact figure.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Dear committee members, first of all, I'd like to thank you for the opportunity given to us to appear before you as part of the pre-budget consultations of the Standing Committee on Finance. The Desjardins Group is the largest cooperative financial force i

Finance committee  We certainly dealt with the question of securities trading in our brief, but in a much more general way. At Desjardins, we put a high premium on cooperation and collaboration between the provinces and the various levels of government. We do not break with those principles, even i

Finance committee  We were not talking about that program specifically, but, yes, we think that we should be aligning ourselves with programs like that. We did not bring our environmental credit expert with us, but we think that our government could be taking concrete action, but that has been slow

Finance committee  It is quite simple. It is all part of the overall program and of one coming up in 2012, which will be the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives. The entire cooperative movement, including the cooperative financial movement, will use the year to put it front and centre