Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I very much appreciated my colleague Ms. Chatel's pointing out that Montreal today occupies an important place in setting international standards. However, she forgot to say that, once Quebec becomes independent, it will obviously be Quebec that can shine internationally by providing a tremendous amount of expertise.
In the meantime, I have another question on another topic.
In 2020, the Bank for International Settlements, in one of its studies, reported a significant concentration of so‑called “zombie” firms, which are declining in the mining and fossil fuel sectors. However, banks may be inclined to inject more and more capital into these firms to avoid having to get them off the books, to avoid having loss provisions. I know this is complex, but it may be a behaviour that we would potentially want to regulate.
Is the Department of Finance carrying out an assessment here in Canada on the significance of this phenomenon—that is, the amount of resources that are being reinvested by banks in these firms and the risk that the concentration of zombie firms in the oil or mining sector may pose to our financial system?
Have you worked on this? Do you know what the state of the Canadian situation is in this regard?
If the answer is yes, could you submit to the committee information on what has been done in the department?