Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, members of the committee, for this opportunity to meet with you this afternoon. None of us has any experience in dealing with a medical emergency that has become an economic crisis, and none of us knows how long this will last, or how the

Finance committee  I'll take a stab at this. I think it's important to drill down into the mortgage debt and credit card debt parts of household debt. Let's call it collateralized debt versus credit card debt. In terms of collateralized debt, it's really quite interesting that 40% of Canadian home

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  Exactly, and that's the great conundrum. I don't believe that it should be politicians or bureaucrats in Ottawa who should be making those decisions. Among businesses themselves, in even the hardest hit sectors, some will be big winners because they're making adjustments. There a

Finance committee  I do. I think the immigration issue is a very important one for the economy as a whole, and certainly for the housing market specifically. Permanent residents in Canada are typically not welcome at the Canadian banks, particularly new Canadians. They are going through alternative

Finance committee  I certainly agree with Doug that this is an essential component, and it's one that can be done remotely. There's so much training available. Some large employers that have had to increase their payrolls dramatically, be it Loblaws, Walmart or some of the essential retailers, hav

Finance committee  Oh, I can make it very tight, because I'm no longer a bank economist. I can tell you, though, that having a strong banking system in Canada is a huge advantage for the country. The Canadian banking sector outperforms the rest of the world's banks and costs our government far, f

Finance committee  I just want to touch on something we haven't mentioned yet, which is the sectors that government can definitely help to grease the skids of economic development. Sectors that will be very important in the growth of the next wave of technology innovation are telemedicine, which we