Finance committee  There is a series of reforms that are, as you say, technical and relate really to the plumbing of derivatives markets. I think we do well to remember that these are $300 trillion-plus markets in notional size. These are immense markets globally. They bring real, true systemic risk to global financial institutions and back into institutions in Canada.

Finance committee  Even the Bank of Canada can't do that.

Finance committee  Certainly relative to the United States, there's no comparison. The United States has not recovered all the jobs lost. They're still millions of jobs down. The drop in the proportion of Americans working relative to the population is much more marked and severe than it is in Canada—it's another couple of percentage points on that employment-to-population ratio—and the involuntary part-time is much higher.

Finance committee  We have welcomed the moves the government has taken on reducing amortization, increasing down payments, effectively raising the credit scores, reducing and effectively eliminating the ability to access mortgage insurance for refinancing and for investment properties. These measures as a whole are contributing to a more sustainable development of the housing market here in Canada, and we welcome them.

Finance committee  Thank you. That is an important question. Yes, the cash to book ratio has reached a record level. It is not just the amount that is important; it is also the ratio. What can be done? We can use monetary policy. This is one of the reasons why that policy is so accommodating at present.

Finance committee  I have one minute? Okay. Let me start from the bottom, which is first to acknowledge our sympathies for the families in the U.S. and in Canada who have been affected, and tragically so, by this storm, which as you know is ongoing. Obviously it's very early days and the damage, unfortunately, is not yet complete.

Finance committee  Jointly with other authorities, both federal and provincial, we have been conducting a monitoring exercise of the level of activity in the shadow banking sector. I would say that—I'm not going to be Pollyannaish about it—but there are not identifiable pockets that have the same level of risk and vulnerability that existed in the asset-backed commercial paper market in 2007-08.

Finance committee  It's an important question. The short answer is yes, for well over a year, in fact almost two, Canada's been in a position where we've fully recovered the 400,000-odd jobs lost in the recession, and then we have added jobs. Obviously, the number added moves around with each employment report.

Finance committee  Thank you. We've added another 380,000. Your question about quality is an important one. About three-quarters—77% to be exact—of those jobs are in industries where the wage is above the average wage paid, so those are in higher quality industries as measured by wage. The vast majority of jobs—I think almost 85% on the most recent read—are private sector jobs.

Finance committee  I would not say we are near a lasting resolution on the issue, but that is not to diminish the important progress that has been made over the course of the last year. Very importantly, the measures taken by the European Central Bank over the summer, the so-called OMT program, the intent of which is to remove so-called convertibility risk from European government borrowing, in other words, removing the risk premium that's paid by those governments for the possibility that the euro would cease to exist in its current form, the ECB has taken that risk off the table, or has made the commitment to take that risk off the table.

Finance committee  The quick summary is that Canada has been blessed with immense commodity resources. We should develop them sustainably and intelligently and to the benefit of all of Canada. That is entirely within the realm of possibility. All other things being equal, if commodity prices are going to be higher than historic averages, which they have been and we expect that to continue, it's better to have commodities than not.

Finance committee  The Bank of Canada sets monetary policy consistent with our inflation target and consistent under flexible inflation targeting, we're supporting other objectives such as financial stability in Canada, and we will take whatever actions are necessary. Obviously in a view that we have in this projection, which includes some modest withdrawal of monetary policy stimulus over the course of the projection, a projection which runs until the end of 2014, in other words in advance of the 2015 date you just quoted, that would not necessarily be consistent with the projection, but I would reiterate that any adjustment to monetary policy would take into account the evolution of domestic and global factors, including the imbalances in the household sector.

Finance committee  I would say in general there has been an increase in inequality across the advanced economies over the course of decades, that there is normally and there has been an increase in measured inequality in the recession. The best contribution of the Bank of Canada to mitigating this is to ensure that inflation is low, stable and predictable, because inflation itself hurts the poor the most, and deflation hurts those Canadians who are indebted the most.

Finance committee  In our hierarchy of risks, we would say that the greatest risks are external. You referenced the European crisis quite rightly. Our expectation is that that crisis will remain contained. That is different from it being resolved, but it will remain contained. The next in the near term is the potential resolution, or not, of the so-called fiscal cliff in the United States.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. Absolutely you are correct in the sense that there have been some imbalances or disparities in economic growth. That's frequently the case. In an expansion or in a recession and subsequent recovery, some sectors are affected differentially. Particularly in Canada one of the most important impacts obviously has been the structure of global demand and particularly demand for Canadian exports.