Finance committee  Thank you for your question. That is very important, of course....

Finance committee  Without commenting on the specific institutions that were affected by that, as you and committee members are aware, there are difficulties in the commercial real estate sector in the United States, in addition to the residential real estate sector. A number of smaller regional banks are particularly affected, and a series of these closures were the product of commercial real estate losses.

Finance committee  Canadian institutions do have varying exposure to the United States market. I think that exposure is well documented.

Finance committee  Canadian banks on the whole are very well capitalized, and they have been lending. Household credit, largely from bank-based credit, grew north of 7% on an annualized basis through September. Business credit has now turned positive again. It was briefly negative in September. That lending capacity is there and is being deployed.

Finance committee  We are not doing it for large companies.

Finance committee  At one point, the large auto companies had a lot of capital, but they suffered losses year after year. No one is talking about regulating the capital of enterprises; we're talking about financial institutions, because of their central role and the spillovers, the ripple effects on other sectors of the economy.

Finance committee  Yes, we are.

Finance committee  Well, the one thing that needs to be recognized is that while the housing market is something that's near and dear to all our hearts, and something that's very prominent, housing is a relatively small proportion of the economy. We do see a strong housing market going forward. We saw part of this recovery in the second quarter.

Finance committee  The paragraphs refer to, in broad-brush terms, the beginning of the infrastructure spending from the government's economic action plan. We see--I think it's important to guide the committee--that this impact will build into 2010. And as to a growth in 2010, very importantly, it will be a relatively unusual recovery compared to history.

Finance committee  The clear mandate of the bank in the conduct of monetary policy is to achieve the 2% CPI inflation target. That is the clear mandate, that's how we're judged, and that's how we're held accountable. Related to that, but not always overlapping it, we have an intervention policy agreed to by the Government of Canada.

Finance committee  I will start with the last part of your question. No, we are not in talks with the Department of Finance regarding a new tax on transactions or capital. In Canada, about five years ago in certain provinces, and some ten years ago at the federal level, there was such a capital tax.

Finance committee  Just for the record, I spoke of the hubris of bankers, not central bankers. There is no hubris in central bankers, or any original sin. As to your question, it's an important issue. There are many factors that drive markets in our currency and all others. The Canadian economy, as you correctly imply, is much more than primary industries.

Finance committee  Thank you. That is a very important question. The matter of tax havens is one of the G20's highest priorities. I should point out that the G20 presently has a priority process chaired by the senior associate deputy minister, Mr. Macklem, and the head of this committee. So, working with France, a process was put in place last month that is due to wrap up in January, I believe.

Finance committee  I'm tempted to say no, it's not under the division of labour. But no, the energy sector is clearly a very important sector in the Canadian economy. We need to understand the short-, medium-, and long-term drivers for investment in those sectors. In fact in the report this last week we highlighted recent developments and structural developments in natural gas markets, which are important for the outlook investment in natural gas in Canada.

Finance committee  Very briefly, I would associate myself with Governor Noyer's comments. There are concerns globally about the resumption of some of the practices previously.