Finance committee  Yes, it is very much the case that the annual report of the FCAC will require a description of the financial literacy activities undertaken by the FCAC. That current provision, as drafted, empowers that report to be required before Parliament.

Finance committee  In its annual report now, with respect to compliance, FCAC describes its activities, its successes, its improvements year to year, so it would do that for financial literacy as well.

Finance committee  Currently the FCAC receives $2 million annually from the government, and all of that is for financial literacy. The government also announced in the budget as well that there will be an additional $3 million, and that also will be all devoted to financial literacy.

Finance committee  Any employee who works for the financial literacy leader would be an employee of the FCAC and subject to the FCAC Act.

Finance committee  That's a question that will be worked out once the financial.... Assuming Parliament passes this bill and then the financial literacy leader is appointed, it would be the specific call of the financial literacy leader as to how many employees would work on this activity.

Finance committee  How many is really a question that the commissioner and the financial literacy leader would set on a going-forward basis. If you wish, I could find out for you how many current staff are devoted to financial literacy and consumer education. That is information I could obtain from

Finance committee  There is also authority in the bill, if the FCAC and the financial literacy leader should choose to use it, to actually have assessments against financial institutions so that the rest of the FCAC's activities would be paid for via assessments that the financial institutions woul

Finance committee  That is an element that is to be worked out. The person would report to the commissioner, so in that regard he or she would be below the commissioner in terms of the level of government. That would be part of the selection criteria to be worked out if Parliament should pass this

Finance committee  Not that I'm aware.

Finance committee  The answer, as far as I know, is no. My colleague is just reminding me that is a Governor in Council appointment, so it is the Governor in Council who will decide that.

Finance committee  Exactly. Under the existing framework of the legislation, the commissioner did establish and does actually currently have an external advisory committee made up of representatives from the public, private, and voluntary sectors. They meet twice a year. They provide the FCAC with

Finance committee  I'm not sure that I can add much more to the approach we took in drafting the legislation, apart from the fact that the intention is to allow the meaning to have a sort of living approach: to allow it to constantly evolve, to change, and to shape, depending on the needs of Canadi

Finance committee  The act does not contain a definition, as the intention was to allow the term to have its ordinary-course meaning in the timeframe that we're in. It can evolve. It can evolve to contemplate what is considered financial literacy and meet the needs of Canadians as we find them now,

Finance committee  That's always the risk when you have a definition. It is meant to have a meaning, and it would depart from what the ordinary meaning would be.

Finance committee  There are many common ways to define financial literacy. Generally these are the kinds of things that are contemplated at this time. I've sometimes seen it described without the words “financial risks” taken into account in the wording. Usually we're talking about making sure tha