Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I agree with you: the crisis we are currently experiencing in Canada did indeed originate in the United States. However, I would like to ask you a question concerning a witness we heard from last Monday. That witness targeted the persons responsible for the current economic crisis. He said that those responsible for the crisis that we are currently experiencing around the world were the American politicians, both Democrats and Republicans. I will explain his argument and I would like to hear your comment on what he said.
He said that, in the early 2000s, American politicians had a very noble objective of enabling all Americans to have access to home ownership. In so doing, they asked Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to guarantee mortgage loans that Americans otherwise would have been unable to obtain as they were unable to make a downpayment or were simply unable to get a mortgage loan in the private sector. By asking Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to guarantee high-risk mortgage loans, they led the banks and the private sector to agree to do the same as they were, since they were sharing the risk. The crisis originated in the early 2000s, and we have seen that those loans were securitized and bought by certain international financial institutions. As a result, the financial crisis was transformed into an economic crisis. In his view, the nasty capitalists aren't at the origin of the crisis; it's the fault of American politicians instead.
I'd like to know what you think of that.