Governor, senior deputy governor, welcome.
I'd like to ask my questions on the issue of quantitative easing. I'll ask them in English because of the technical words, and I want to give some mercy to the translators.
According to Bloomberg, back in 2010 Minister Flaherty actually told CBC television that quantitative easing was an option for policy-makers.
In December 2010, still according to Bloomberg, Minister Flaherty said, “the U.S. has few options other than quantitative easing since President...Obama lacked the ability to win legislative backing for further stimulus measures”.
Now in 2013, earlier this month, in Washington, Minister Flaherty actually said and was quoted as saying that quantitative easing is “not good public policy”. He said the U.S. should never have implemented the policy “in the first place. Now that they've done it, they should get out of it as quickly as they can”.
So who is right? Is it the 2010 Minister Flaherty or the 2013 Minister Flaherty?