Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Deputy Prime Minister.
In June 1999 Michel Vennat and the BDC board stripped the bank president of his role in approving or rejecting loans just days after he had expressed his intention to call the Auberge Grand-Mère loan. In this letter the president wrote Mr. Vennat and said:
The authority to approve loans in the absence of the president ... affects the arm's length relationship which exists between the bank and the government, and has the potential to create the perception of political interference.
Did the government approve of this stripping of the bank president's normal powers?