Thank you very much.
Welcome back for your first time as governor.
If I may, I'd like to talk a little bit about the international credit crunch or asset-backed commercial paper problems. First, I'd like to say I think it's good for the country that the Montreal Accord has passed and congratulate you for any role you may have played in that.
I'd also like to focus on hearings we're likely to hold in the future after the budget implementation bill passes. But since you're here, I thought I might start with you, if I may. What we'd like to focus on is what might have been done to make this crisis less severe than it was in Canada and, just as important, what should be done to reduce the likelihood of such a crisis in the future.
Since we are federal in this room--notwithstanding that I'm sure there's a lot of blame to go around--I'd like to start with federal agencies, and in particular OSFI. Some people have told us that the fact that OSFI encouraged banks to offer conditional liquidity facilities for this paper rather than unconditional may well have exacerbated the crisis and was not a good move.
I wonder if you have a view on that.