Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome, Governor Poloz.
In 2005, before the financial crisis, you gave a speech to the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal in which you said the following:
Accordingly, Canadian companies are well-positioned to take advantage of a solid global economy, good domestic fundamentals, low financing costs and a strong Canadian dollar, to elevate their productivity onto a whole new level. In effect, we are suggesting that they will increasingly use international trade as a tool of supply, a tool that boosts efficiency…
Of course, that was before the financial crisis. Since then, we have seen that the exchange rate and its equivalent purchasing power did not follow suit. Central banks in other countries that were affected by the economic crisis bought massive quantities of our currency and our bonds, which created an upward pressure on our dollar. As a result, companies did not invest to the extent we would have liked.
What do you feel is the importance of the strength of the Canadian dollar in the crisis of Canadian productivity?
Will the transition that seems to be getting started in the economy at the moment, after the crisis, be the motivation for companies to invest more?