Good afternoon. I agree with the general opinion that the quality of the assets is the key to the interest rate situation. It is all part of risk management. If the debt is partly or mostly domestic, let us not forget that interest income is taxable. That is a good amount of tax revenue.
I am sorry, but I am probably going to direct my questions more or less to the people from the Mouvement des caisses Desjardins, who took the time to write to us.
In your document, you talk about excessive levels of debt, but you also say that we have to achieve a balance in a measured way. I think you mentioned that earlier. Maybe a rate of 80% could be seen as terrible. But when I consider the comparables, I hesitate to use the word “excessive”. It is a significant level of debt, but to call it excessive... Anyway, I do not share the same opinion. In a previous life, I could have discussed this on TVA with Mr. Leitao at any time, but those days are behind me.
In section 2 of your brief, you say that we have to bank on human capital and you mention education. I fully agree with you. We are on the same wavelength there, but I suggest a degree of prudence. I advise you to take areas of competence into consideration. You do it very well. We are here in the federal Parliament. I would like to hear your comments on that.
In section 3 of your brief, you say that Desjardins has a very decentralized system, which gets everyone involved. You seem to be saying that securities trading is working very well in Canada, and you use Desjardins as an example. Your suggestion is: “if it's not broken, don't fix it”. Tell me if I am taking that a little too far, or if you really do think that the Desjardins system is working very well and there is no need to change it.