Finance committee  No, 2018 was a very good year that way. Our models show that when the economy is performing well, the default rate is lower.

Finance committee  Yes. There's more economic activity, and as a result of the investment, the number of SMEs that are investing is increasing. We have been busier.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  What we have looked for before is the impact of BDC on its clients. We worked with Statistics Canada to evaluate whether our clients are growing faster than similar businesses in the economy. The analysis was done by Statistics Canada with a third party, and we found out that when BDC invests, our clients are actually growing faster than very similar companies, very similar SMEs, and that if they use our advisory group, the impact is even greater.

Finance committee  No, we haven't.

Finance committee  Do you mean in terms of the BDC investments?

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair and distinguished members of the committee, I am pleased to be here today. My name is Pierre Cléroux, and I am the chief economist of the Business Development Bank of Canada. With me today is Karen Kastner, vice-president of Government Relations.