Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for your testimony. I thought it was excellent. There was a lot to learn there. There were a lot of positive comments from each of you about cooperatives—that they're resilient, that they're strong, adaptable. Madam Guy mentioned that their assets earn about $330 billion, and talked about their survival rates. Mr. Wrobel talked about the substantial evolution that we're experiencing amongst co-ops. The size of the average credit union's balance sheet has tripled over the last decade. Mr. Fitzpatrick talked about the increase of assets, 10% in 2011, generating record profitability. These are all strong indicators that the co-op presence in Canada is not only solid but it's improving.
The first question I'd like to ask is about the survival rate. The study done in Quebec showed that after about ten years, the survival rate of a co-op is about twice that of a business. Madam Guy mentioned that there were similar-type studies done in other provinces as well.
I mean, that's quite a remarkable statistic, a survival rate twice that of business, so I wanted to ask what you think would contribute to that. I'll ask Mr. Fitzpatrick, just because credit unions I'm sure, as we heard from the department, are in the business of lending money, probably to some other co-ops.
I'm wondering if you, from your experience, might be able to comment on what it is that gives co-ops this inherent strength and survivability, particularly in difficult economic times.