Excuse me.
The example which members give us is that of the European Union. The European Union is very different from the United States and Canada. There were 11 countries all trading with one another in 11 different currencies. Together they are roughly the same size economically as Canada and the United States.
Can we imagine the complexity of doing business in a market where there are 11 currencies and 11 different borders to cross in order to have the same economies of scale? A monetary union had transactional cost savings inherent in it.
Another advantage, and we have to look at it, is that with a single currency there is no possibility of the currency either going up or down against a foreign currency. Perhaps this causes difficulties when doing business over a long period of time. The costs from a supplier cannot be guaranteed for six months because the exchange rate may differ.
We could find ourselves producing goods or services in Canada which are not competitive. However there is a way around that. All businesses involved in international trade which need to deal with international currencies do what they call hedging. They buy a currency six months ahead if that is when they will need it. Or, they sell a currency six months or a year ahead, if that is when they will be selling their products, in order to ensure that their costs are ascertainable and fixed.
That is what we in Canada do with the United States. We do not have the huge problem of 11 different currencies; we have just two. If we were to go into a monetary union it would be very unlike the European Union which involves many countries. However there is a certain homogeny, a certain sameness about the countries. The United States vis-à-vis Canada is about 11 times as big economically. The inevitable result would be that we would lose our monetary policy independence.
The member of the Bloc Quebecois who just spoke said that Canada never had an independent monetary policy. This is not true.