Finance committee  This was a government initiative. This did not originate with the industry. As we looked at it, though, it struck us that the rationale was fairly clear. In the ownership structure of Canadian banks, you have three tiers. You have the very, very large banks that have to be widely

Finance committee  On the question of bank fees, if you go to the FCAC's website, you'll get a tremendous resource tool. There's basically a range of accounts for all types of people. You have low-fee accounts and you have no-fee accounts for youth and seniors and so on. There's a range of accounts

Finance committee  Unfortunately, sir, I don't have a sense of that, but on the 10%, I would say that's a very large transaction. Ten percent of an acquiring bank's assets...that's very large.

Finance committee  Well, that was back in the 1980s. I would hesitate to give you an answer, but it would be on that scale.

Finance committee  It would be on that scale.

Finance committee  Well, when we first read it, I would say.... It strikes us that this is a reversion to the status quo ante: the minister had the authority back in the 1990s. It was delegated to OSFI. OSFI was always involved, and the process under OSFI worked very well, but the world has changed

Finance committee  Yes, exactly.

Finance committee  I would say the core thing.... I think Mr. Van Kesteren pointed out the good old-fashioned conservative Scottish banking. My last name is Campbell, so I took heart at that. I would say that fundamentally it's the behaviour of our banks, it's the behaviour of our regulators in t

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. I apologize, but I am going to answer you in English. I would say our banks have been.... If you look at the track record over the last 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, I think it's very clear that our banks—while they have been interested in expanding a

Finance committee  Is your question for Mr. Swedlove?

Finance committee  Thank you, Chairman. The CBA is pleased to participate in the committee's pre-budget consultations in preparation for Budget 2013. As many of you know, the CBA represents 54 banks in this country and their 274,000 employees across Canada. Our banks are playing an important r

Finance committee  To make the PRPP successful, provincial governments must adopt companion legislation to enable the PRPP to cover provincially regulated businesses across the country. We encourage the federal government to continue working cooperatively with the provinces on the PRPP model. Fin

Finance committee  I think it's a couple of things. I'll be very brief. When we talk about a competitive tax rate, it's very important to recognize that when I say that and when the government says that, it's for businesses across the country. We are in a very competitive world in which people sc

Finance committee  There's no question that every company will make its own decision. Every board will make its own decision. Some pay them back in dividends. We've seen that happening. Some will give it back to shareholders, which then goes into pension funds. Some of that will be decisions to inv

Finance committee  I'll be very quick. You mentioned the United States. The housing situation, the residential mortgage market situation in Canada, is very different than in the United States, very structurally different. I think comparisons between the two have to be very careful. We're all conc