Finance committee  Maybe a little different note on the question of demographics. We are assuming, and it's an honest assumption, that labour force participation rates will remain the same. By that I mean that 65-year-olds will behave the same way in 2015 as 65-year-olds did in 1960, meaning they w

Finance committee  That is one measure; there are others.

Finance committee  In that very unlikely scenario—I agree with François that it is not very likely....

Finance committee  Indeed, it is possible. In a scenario like that, I think the solution would lie in international cooperation. We saw that in 2008: central banks, governments, including the Canadian, American and English governments, joined forces to coordinate their efforts. If we find ourselves

Finance committee  Just very quickly, one of the surprises, one of the disappointments in Canada so far, has been the poor performance of investments. Private investment hasn't been as strong as we thought it would be. So any sort of measure that would promote investment, even if it smells like a s

Finance committee  I will let my colleagues from the big banks answer that. As for us, the small banks, we do not have that kind of compensation. I will say, however, that yes, Canadian banks are very profitable, and that has served us well. It has helped us to get through this crisis and to preser

Finance committee  I am not a volunteer; I get a salary all right, but as far as bonuses go, we are not in the same league as our colleagues.

Finance committee  I just wanted to add that the Canadian job market has in fact performed very well. The U.S. is actually facing a very significant structural shift. Thankfully, we are not in the same boat. The U.S. is now having to deal with issues surrounding long-term unemployment, and those is

Finance committee  I was just going to say that from a very practical point of view, if you see what went on in British Columbia, I think B.C. was one of the first jurisdictions in North America to actually put in place a fairly intelligent carbon tax some years ago. The backlash against that was h

Finance committee  Of course, I am a strong supporter of free trade. It is always a bit of a struggle for economists to sell people on the benefits of free trade. For us, it is practically intuitive. But I do understand that there are political issues involved. In my view, we need to stay on that p

Finance committee  I would add to my colleague's opinion that we need to diversify our export markets. Canada has always been accustomed to exporting to the United States. Our SMEs are quite adept at it, but we need to seek out other markets: Asia, Europe and so forth. In that kind of environment,

Finance committee  As far as balancing the budget goes, I think the federal government's five-year plan is entirely achievable. I would not insist on reducing....

Finance committee  We are vulnerable, of course, because interest rates are abnormally low. Eventually, rates will return to normal. It will probably not be in 2011, but in 2012 or 2013. Then there will be a shock. That is why Mr. Carney has been saying repeatedly that we need to prepare for the da

Finance committee  I'm afraid that in the short term--and by that I mean the next six months--the slowdown might be worse than what we think, not because of what's going on here, but because of what's going on outside of Canada. In the United States in particular there are some very troubling devel

Finance committee  Certainly. Confidence, whether business or consumer, is crucial. And yes, if there is an overall air of overly pessimistic opinions, then there's an impact. Still, underneath those pessimistic opinions there's a reality. In the U.S. that reality is twofold: there are very high ra