The only way that this motion could undermine the credibility of the Bank of Canada is if the bank has done something wrong. If it has acted above board, then these transactions, being, I might add, in public markets, should be unspectacular. We should find that there's nothing unusual about them, that nobody has been improperly enriched and that Canadian taxpayers and holders of Canadian legal tender have been protected. If, on the other hand, those things are not true, then you're right: It could impact the credibility of the bank, and rightly so. I find the objections from my Liberal colleagues bizarre and rather surprising.
First of all, it was the finance minister who told me to make this request of the Bank of Canada, so I did. To Ms. Julie Dzerowicz' point, I actually contacted the bank and asked these questions. They did not provide answers and did not give me the information. The minister has said that the committee should ask the Bank of Canada. I am honouring the minister's request. If she actually meant it, then the Liberals who are representing her here today will vote in favour of this motion.
Mr. Fraser's objections are self-defeating. On the one hand, he says, “Well, all of this information is public” and then seconds later, he said, “No, all of this information is so sensitive it can't be made public”. You've got to wonder which it is. If it's too sensitive to be made public, then how is it that it's all public? Well, the answer is neither. It's not too sensitive to be made public for any legitimate reason, and yet it's not being made public because I suspect the Bank of Canada doesn't want any scrutiny for the way it has deployed $400 billion of our money.
I note that the Federal Reserve south of the border, which is not known for its transparency, has provided more detail, according to the CBC, than our own central bank has. The CBC was able to get more information on the corporate bonds that the Federal Reserve has purchased than it was able to get on the corporate bonds that the Bank of Canada has purchased. When I asked the minister which companies got this money, she said to ask the Bank of Canada, which is what I have done in this motion. This is exactly as she asked.
Let me just talk about the magnitude of this. This is an unprecedented action by the Bank of Canada. It is not some run-of-the-mill, normal activity that we expect from a central bank.