Thank you, Mr. LaSorda, Mr. Bigland, and Ms. Shalhoub, for coming this evening. It's very much appreciated.
I said yesterday that I'm beginning to feel like we're trying to land a plane on the Hudson River right now. We have a huge obligation, as members of Parliament, to make sure we balance the need to preserve hundreds of thousands of jobs in Canada with the fiscal responsibility we have to our taxpayers, and that is to not needlessly or recklessly--being a bank of last resort--invest in something that cannot be collateralized or that may fail. I'm not suggesting that's the case; I'm saying that's what we have to look at.
We have to know that you're viable in both the short term and the long term. We have to know how we might help and if the help we offer will be meaningful and actually do anything.
Speaking of collateral, you indicated that some of your debt was converted into equity. That tells me that if debt becomes equity, you're freeing up a certain degree of collateral that might be offered to secure any loans that might be given to you by Canada.
I'm going to refer to page eight of your submission. You say: “Furthermore, we strongly believe that the government's fully collateralized loan will also deliver a positive return for Canadian taxpayers.” I need to know, first of all, how much you are actually asking from the Canadian government in billions of dollars and how you propose to collateralize or secure that loan.