Finance committee  Exactly.

Finance committee  They are redistributing it nationally.

Finance committee  I'm not exactly familiar with all the details--perhaps somebody may be able to correct me on this--but what they've done is set up a separate fund for the purposes of being able to compensate and provide necessary funds for those sectors of the economy that have been hurt by it.

Finance committee  Needless to say, it is in the mandate of the governor to decide on interest rate policy--

Finance committee  —and not the Minister of Finance. However, that said, we've had precedents, going back, that suggest that the fiscal authority could have a say ultimately about whether the governor is doing a good job or not, and hence indirectly have a--

Finance committee  Needless to say, no.

Finance committee  Let me just say that the question you're posing should perhaps be expressed a little differently.

Finance committee  What we should be asking, and the minister should be asking, is whether or not the governor is doing a good job right now. Indeed, this is of concern here.

Finance committee  I could give the example of Norway. The problem is that obviously we have a different system here constitutionally, but if I take the example of Norway, in fact they've also gone through the process. They have North Sea oil. They've gone through the whole period of booming oil pr

Finance committee  May I say something? I would just like to say that I do not think that the Minister of Finance would be authorized to act; that would be the Bank of Canada's role instead. As I said earlier, the current problem is that the Bank is not intervening at all in the exchange market. I

Finance committee  I would argue also that on the price side there are some benefits there, over time.

Finance committee  Sure; absolutely agreed.

Finance committee  Thank you. I'm very happy to be able to actually speak on my behalf. I was invited by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, which found that I had done some work in the area. Although not directly connected to the issue of what's happening to the manufacturing sector, I d