Fisheries committee  It was my pleasure. Thank you very much.

Fisheries committee  I can actually give you an appreciation of what we have in portfolio. We have a portfolio of about $11 billion. I'm just going to give you a rough estimate, but you can see how it's spread across Canada. The western provinces have $3 billion, Ontario has $3 billion, Quebec has $3

Fisheries committee  You're welcome.

Fisheries committee  Absolutely. I would be pleased to.

Fisheries committee  That we exist.

Fisheries committee  Do you mind if I answer in English? It's easier for me. Banking terms are all in English, unfortunately. Let's talk about marketing. You are right, BDC is perhaps not as well known as it should be, simply because of our size. If you compare BDC to the size of the financial insti

Fisheries committee  You're very welcome.

Fisheries committee  In the case of fishermen, the applications concern boats, permits, in fact all the resources they need in order to carry out their activities.

Fisheries committee  In fact, we have always had clients from the fishing industry. In order to understand the current changes in behaviour, you have to realize that the funding the fishermen and entrepreneurs want is for operating funds. This is what they need. They do not want money for investments

Fisheries committee  I don't have all the reasons. It's actually a very good question, and I may not have a satisfactory answer for you today. What I suggest is that I get back to you or the committee later on. I think that at one point they could not raise capital to continue to do what they were d

Fisheries committee  We have not been a lender of last resort since 1995, simply because it wasn't a viable bank, basically. If you truly want to be a development bank in Canada and help the companies that have the potential to be competitive and succeed, you have to focus on the ones that are well m

Fisheries committee  Yes, the ones that are falling through. There are two things happening in the marketplace at the moment. When you go through a recession, the weakest point will be the one that will fail. One has to ask the question of which one you want to invest in, the stronger one that will

Fisheries committee  I could not say what the CDIC fee structure is. I am sorry, I do not have that information. As far as the BDC is concerned, if we compare ourselves to a traditional financial institution, we always charge a little more; it is around 50 basis points and often a little more. It a

Fisheries committee  We did so in the past in certain very specific cases. Within the history of the BDC, there have indeed been times when certain departments chose to guarantee part of the risk premium. This is therefore something we could consider.

Fisheries committee  I do not have that information at the moment. The portfolio is performing as well as the rest of the bank. We do not have more loans in difficulty than in the remainder of the portfolio. It is more or less the same. This year, the bank will be publishing its annual report very s