Finance committee  Perhaps I could add to that—

Finance committee  As I noted, it is a temporary measure. Our system is very strong and very resilient. It's well capitalized. It's very well regulated. However, given the circumstances in the U.S., there's always that concern around contagion in the financial sector. Our financial institutions are global in scope—

Finance committee  Thank you for your question. This legislation allows the minister to increase the deposit insurance limit, which remains at $100,000 per deposit across the nine different categories of deposits. It is temporary. It is to be used only in exceptional and emergency situations. The thinking is that given the current situation and the banking turmoil that we saw in the U.S. and in Switzerland, it was a prudent thing to do.

Finance committee  Okay. Thank you.

Finance committee  Yes, there is a precedent. In the early days of COVID, under the special emergency legislation, the minister was granted this power. It also had an expiry date. It did expire and was never used. Additional governance around this measure is being proposed. For example, as I noted, it would be with Governor in Council approval and consultation with the heads of those other financial sector agencies.

Finance committee  I think we would want to look to some international guidance on that. In the event that there is instability or concerns around potential bank runs, etc., as we saw in the U.S., the minister would be poised to be able to step in and bring forward a measure.

Finance committee  Thank you for your question. Yes, the proposed authorities are time-limited. They're set to expire on April 30, 2024. With Governor in Council approval and under consultation with the Governor of the Bank of Canada, the president of CDIC and the heads of OSFI and the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, they provide for the minister to bring forward a temporary increase.