Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm going to do something a bit different. I want to touch on four points in about five minutes. The first one is on what the U.S. is doing, because it's an interesting case study on the biggest credit crisis I think the world has ever faced. The second one is comparing where we are. The third point will consider the fact that I think our system is now in a state of healing. A lot of the data that Don just gave you is evidence that we're now on the right path. It's a question, really, of what more could be done to accelerate the healing. Finally, I want to talk just for a minute about the existing state instruments, like BDC and EDC, and frankly, how lucky we are to have them as a backstop for our financial system.
On the U.S., I think the number is up to $10 trillion now of policy intervention. When you add up all the action--the TARP program, the fact that the Bush government got $700 billion from Congress last fall, that he injected a quarter of a trillion dollars into the banking system--we've now seen the kind of action that Don's just referred to, with government stepping in to particular credit markets, building a program to buy back distressed assets.
So it's an incredible degree of intervention we're seeing in the United States. The evidence is hardly clear as to whether it's working yet, but the U.S. has more or less played all its cards. I think quantitative easing is the final card, trying to fight off deflation and having really improved conditions in long bond markets at the same time. The cards are all in. I'm confident that they're going to work, but it's going to take time. I think we're going to watch all of this year, frankly, before we see any semblance of normalcy return to the U.S. financial markets.
Compare that to what we've seen happen in Canada. I think government policy to this point has been very effective and it has been very well constructed. I think, for the most part, governments have done what they had to do in terms of offering to buy back mortgages, for example, and the various programs to try to restore credit conditions in credit markets. The bottom line is that we haven't seen a dime of taxpayer money go into banks in terms of equity because we haven't had the same sort of crisis.
So we're obviously in far better shape than almost anybody in the industrial world, and therefore I assume we're going to see a return to more normal conditions in Canada much sooner than we do in almost any other industrial country. But again, it's going to take time.
So we're now in a healing mode. The fact that we had all the chartered banks report profits in Q4, the fact that they're operating in the black.... Having to put provisions aside against old bad assets and the declining credit conditions is obviously very important. It's going to probably hurt their bottom line going forward, but we're in a situation where our system can work in the black.
It's really about the banks right now rebuilding their balance sheets and having healing, and dealing with the fact, as Don mentioned, that the non-banks and foreign banks have more or less retreated from our market. The evidence of that is pretty clear.
So what else could be done? I thought about that as I gave advice to the government in the budget context, and I hadn't had a chance to appear before you before, but it's really hard for me to come up with a magic solution at this point. There's no magic wand; there clearly is no silver bullet. The fact that we're getting evidence now that the full mortgage buyback program is not going to get taken up, I think, is a real sign of healing going on in markets. I don't know what cards, frankly, the government has left to play except within the assets that you own.
Here's where I'll wrap up. I think we're very lucky to have organizations like Export Development Canada, BDC, Farm Credit, and CCC as real key players within our financial system. I know there has been debate for a long time about privatization, about whether they're taking too big a market share, but aren't we lucky to have such strong institutions as a backstop for the commercial banks and for the private financial system right now? They're players through the market cycle. They have the skills, they have the knowledge, they have the balance sheet, frankly, to step up right now and fill gaps.
I had a chance to appear before the Senate committee earlier this week on the EDC legislation. I hope that when it comes back to the House it gets passed as quickly as possible, because it's time to take time away from management. Management should not have to think about the rules of operation. They should really have the chance now to use that insured capital they've been given, and the expanded mandate, and really try to accelerate the healing of our financial system right now.
I'll stop there, Mr. Chair. Thank you.