Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I think all of us are talking about trying to improve the competitiveness of our regulatory system, to improve the competitiveness of Canada versus other parts of the world and other jurisdictions and to lessen the cumulative burden of regulation.
You know that old adage about asking for forgiveness rather than permission? That's happening right now with AI and a lot of new ventures and the notion of sandboxes to try to permit the use of different sources before securities commissions and others take on regulatory matters relative to those issues.
I'll look at the 2008 financial crisis. Had it not been for some of the regulatory impediments, if we can call them that, that had been established in Canada, we wouldn't have weathered that tremendous world situation, in which Canada was somewhat protected, certainly in the banking sector, and hence in our business sector, to the extent that we were able to recover much more quickly in manufacturing and in real estate.
I appreciate your discussions around voluntary standards versus government regulations. I appreciate the notion of relieving regulatory authorities, permitting more, simplifying methods of accelerating some of the work we do and reducing the regulation. It promotes uniformity in some of those standards, improves responsiveness and encourages those very industries to participate in the establishment of those standards, thereby avoiding duplication, hopefully, as we go forward. This is all with the sense and the notion of facilitating and promoting competitiveness.
In my previous life, I worked very closely in a co-operative securities regulator to try to permit all parts of Canada to participate in a uniform system and to reduce some of the competitiveness and duplication and improve our overall costs. Those who held back were Quebec and Alberta primarily. We had a passport system to try to facilitate some of those engagements.
I have three questions.
My first one is for Shaena Furlong. This is in regard to foreign direct investment.
Canada is pretty much at the top. We've slid, it says, since 2019, but we still rank as one of the top destinations for foreign direct investment because of our low tax rate and our stability, our predictability, our legal system and our adaptability. Canada has been sourcing foreign direct investment of late, contrary to the opposition party, which is opposing some of those investments that are coming our way in the automotive sector specifically, but we need to improve scaling and monetization. We are certainly competing against the U.S. for some of this.
I want to understand. I know Michel Girard was asked this question, but I want to ask you specifically about the importance of having an arm's-length regulatory system, one in which you don't interfere with the Ontario Securities Commission or with the Bank of Canada or with any of these bodies that are there to protect all of us from interference.
Can you comment on that, please?