I lived that tale. The CIBC bought my firm because it wanted to put more money into the innovation economy and did not have a solution to do so. It acquired a team, and we committed $10 billion—over five years to firms and funds across this continent—of bank capital, shareholder capital, from zero. It can be done. You just have to have the will. You have to have the stomach, and you have to have talent. It's a choice.
The deputy governor of the Bank of Canada was talking about how we need more competition in this sector and how we need new banks. Well, the OSFI team is not in favour of that. I can tell you that as someone who once met with them to try to launch a bank in this country to serve this industry. You don't get a second meeting, whereas in the United States, they have started 29 or 30 new banks in the last 12 months. It's much more entrepreneurial there, I think, in that sector, and of course, you get more competition.
The BDC has sat there now for 75 years. If our industry and our country need more competition, that is a very obvious way to get it. We privatize. We privatized CN, and we privatized Air Canada. We privatized De Havilland and so many other firms. It just was never privatized in 1990-91—and I was working on the Hill at the time—because of the recession. We're overdue for that.