Mr. Speaker, as the member will know, the Bank of Canada reduced its target rate by half a point last week, by 50 basis points, and it is now down to 0.50%. The large chartered banks all followed course shortly after the announcement was made by the Governor of the Bank of Canada.
It is true, as the member knows, that there is an international credit crisis. It is fundamentally important that the European banks and the American banks segregate their bad debt, their so-called toxic assets, in order for lending to resume in something approaching normal credit in the world.