Finance committee  Thank you for your question. Our monetary policy objective is to have a low, stable and predictable rate of inflation. We have a symmetrical approach. The inflation rate is currently going down, as you mentioned, and we are working on quietly increasing the inflation rate in Cana

Finance committee  First of all, as I indicated, we cut our key interest rate by 350 basis points, whereas bank's preferred rates were reduced by 325 basis points. As well, mortgage rates here in Canada are lower than elsewhere. Our variable mortgage rates are unlike those in other major countries.

Finance committee  In terms of the range of tools that the central bank has, obviously the first and foremost is the overnight interest rate, which, as I mentioned in my comments, we have acted aggressively on. We have dropped it by 350 basis points over the course of just a little over a year. We'

Finance committee  I'm sure I'll get back to those. Thank you.

Finance committee  That depends on your definition of the term “recession”. This year, for example, the growth rate in India will be approximately 5 to 6%, whereas the demographic growth rate will be about 2.5%. That is much less than in the past, but it does not constitute a true recession.

Finance committee  However, theirs is a rather closed economy. That is a major difference between India and Canada.

Finance committee  I guess there are a couple of things. And I certainly would agree with the characterization of economists. This time last year, when we cut our interest rate by 50 basis points, which was at the time an unusually large cut, one of the reasons we did so was that we saw a protract

Finance committee  Could you repeat the last part of your question, sir?

Finance committee  I now understand your question. You are asking whether we had predicted the severity of the crisis.

Finance committee  The current global recession is clearly being felt in Canada, but it is the result of the deepening financial crisis. In a sense, you're asking whether it was possible to predict with any certainty the deepening of the financial crisis. My answer is no because the crisis was caus

Finance committee  Yes, absolutely.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  The financial crisis is much deeper and extends beyond the issue of ABCPs, for example, in Canada. This is a very difficult situation, causing serious problems. The global financial crisis raises a number of issues, including the creditworthiness of the major banks at the heart o

Finance committee  No, not completely. Canada is dependent on other countries. The end of the crisis will have an impact on our growth rate; our growth projections depend on that factor. But even without an end to the crisis, Canada's domestic demand will be maintained, and our financial system wil

Finance committee  I'll try to answer those certainly appropriate questions quickly, in the interest of time. First, I think it's a very good point on model risk, and let me give more background to our forecast. I'm going to take issue with one characterization here; we don't do optimism, we do