Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome, Mr. Carney and Mr. Jenkins. Thank you for your presentation.
Mr. Carney, at your first visit before our committee, just before your appointment as governor, you spoke about the need to establish a regulatory system that would include a sense of values. That was in the wake of the commercial paper crisis. That was the start of what turned into a crisis in the summer and fall. We began to sense, particularly in the United States, that a breakdown was starting to occur in a system that, for lack of a better term, had been held together by chicken wire and chewing gum.
You have worked for Goldman Sachs. That has given you the credibility and experience to manage this crisis, which is now also affecting Canada. You are doing a fine job, and we fully support your efforts. However, you must realize that the credit facilities of some $40 billion that you have just spoken of as well as the other economic levers available to you are not always passed on. Allow me to explain.
On December 9, you reduced the key rate by 75 basis points. Banks systematically held on to exactly 25 basis points. Statistically speaking, that is noteworthy. The probability that each chartered bank retain exactly 25 of those 75 basis points—not 23 for some and 27 for the others, but exactly 25 across the board—is in the range of hundreds of millions to one. It is as if oil companies all decided to set the price of gas at 84.9 cents at 11 o'clock on Thursday morning. An investigation has shown that there was indeed collusion between the oil companies.
Do you not think that that could be a way to influence banks, since your reductions are done in the interest of the public, while banks are keeping part for themselves? Can you not ensure that banks act in the best interest of Canadians?