Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Macklem and Monsieur Halde.
Congratulations, Mr. Macklem, for your position in the G-20. As you know, we Liberals have always pushed it; Paul Martin, in a sense, helped to create it, so we think it's a vital institution.
But I'd like to focus on the BDC. We have heard across the country that business is desperate for credit—which you alluded to in your comments—but we do not feel there's a sense of urgency on the part of BDC. A prominent business person, who didn't want to reveal his name, wrote to me that the government announcements on BDC and EDC, in and of themselves, don't get us very far. He said:
So the real story question is what specific plans or measures they are taking to use this increased headroom to help small businesses and exporters, and on this EDC and BDC have announced absolutely nothing. The result is absolutely nothing is happening, except credit outlook for Canadian business has deteriorated to further record low levels, per Bank of Canada's latest survey.
When I read your remarks, Mr. Halde, it contains language that makes me nervous and tends to corroborate this view. Yes, you talk about the $5 billion that you may get out the door at some point, but you say, for example, “Representatives from all organizations have already begun to meet”. Well, my goodness, of course they should have begun to meet the day of the budget. That does not reassure me one little bit.
On the next page you say, “We are also exploring with some institution a way to deal more quickly with small loans”. Well, I should hope you're exploring. I would have hoped you'd already explored and been on the job. It's March. The budget was in January. We have a crisis.
Then I read, “So there is a lot happening: collaboration with EDC and the banks is good, and we are seeing constructive partnerships being developed”. Wonderful.
So my question is a very specific one. I think businesses are desperate for credit. I think businesses want to know what specifically you are doing. If you have $5 billion in additional loans to make, I would like to know when that $5 billion will be disbursed in loans. For example, within 12 months of today, is it reasonable to suppose that all of the money will be lent? Within three months of today, how much of that money will be lent? I don't get the impression that either the government or BDC understands that we are in a crisis, so I would like to ask you, can you be specific as to the timing of that lending to small businesses?