Finance committee  That's a very complex question. How I would answer that is to say I think there is a very mature credit market in Canada that understands risk. In our case, we've been in the farm finance business, as I said earlier, for 75 years. I'm not sure there's a necessity for government t

Finance committee  We do. We see it being very analogous to the role BDC plays, as well as EDC, Export Development Canada.

Finance committee  That's a very difficult question to answer. That's national data as to where that money is deployed. Certainly we could try to come up with a bit of an educated guess for the committee, but I wouldn't want to wager a guess and be wrong today. Suffice it to say, though, that whi

Finance committee  That's not correct. What happens is that the retained earnings of the credit union are left for the credit union to use. Certainly the board directs those activities, but it does put a bit of governor on how quickly, given that there's only one source for equity in a credit union

Finance committee  I am sorry. I'm not getting any translation, Mr. Chair.

Finance committee  Yes, thank you.

Finance committee  Yes. We would suggest Farm Credit is a very direct competitor with those people who are active in farm finance. In fact, the way Farm Credit is structured today in terms of the risk profile of the credits and the business they typically write, it would be the lowest best profile,

Finance committee  Thanks for the question. The first thing I would offer is that if you take a five-year period, that number would be somewhere between $42 million and $83 million. It was $42 million in the most recent fiscal year. The credit union business model forces us to capitalize ourselv

Finance committee  Sure. In terms of paying more at the local credit union the first thing I would offer.... Certainly for small business, that wasn't the result of the CFIB survey. Credit unions are very competitive on prices, and I would argue that goes beyond small business into the retail mar

Finance committee  By our calculation, Mr. Chair, that growth credit based on 2013 numbers would be $66 million.

Finance committee  There certainly is. At the current multiple levels, Mr. Chair, that would equate to about $700 million of additional lending that would take place in communities across the country.

Finance committee  It would be lent out. That could be leveraged and lent out to communities from credit unions from coast to coast.

Finance committee  That is the way credit unions operate, Mr. Chair. What happens in our world is as retained earnings grow and capital grows in the credit union system, that money can be leveraged. The beauty of the credit union business model today is that this money doesn't end up offshore in pr

Finance committee  That's correct.

Finance committee  No, that would be credit unions in Saskatchewan.