A more general statement in response—I would say banks take their responsibilities quite seriously. How banks conduct themselves in political financing, whether it's under the regime proposed in Bill C-21 or in provincial financing regimes, is ultimately a bank decision, an individual institution decision. We have a competitive marketplace. They are competitors with one another. They will take a number of factors into consideration in their approach.
In terms of the public duty aspect—if that's the question—the political process can be widely defined in terms of the participants. You use an example of a couple of parties. There's a good, proper understanding of the main parties that are involved in the political process and their viability and their staying power, if you will. If there's a suggestion perhaps that banks should be providing loans under any circumstances to any political party, there ultimately becomes a conflict with the prudential regulation because banks do lend to get the money back. We are regulated by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions. The lending that is undertaken by banks is lending that Mr. Wrobel has referred to. It is undertaken consistently to assess and manage risk, and to ensure repayment. That ultimately has to be the final decision.
That's probably the perspective that banks come at this from. For that public duty aspect, you have to look at how broad this can become in terms of an equation.