Finance committee  Again, these two provisions are intended to allow the Bank of Canada to provide custodial services to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Custodial services are basically when a financial institution safeguards assets. In this case, it would be predominantly Government o

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  Potentially, but cost is not necessarily one of the drivers. The desire was to have more options.

Finance committee  I think that's a bit beyond my purview. Bitcoin is an interesting question. It's not part of the considerations we have. The market itself is being studied by the Bank of Canada, but it's not within our ambit right now.

Finance committee  No. That certainly was not the intention. Again, the intention was to ensure that the government could pay back investors who have invested in Government of Canada securities, especially in certain jurisdictions where our fiscal agents have specific terms that appear to limit suc

Finance committee  Yes, there are certain occasions, especially with bearer bonds that are issued in foreign jurisdictions, where it's a bit more of a manual process in terms of redemptions and seeking repayment. There are occasions that have come up where this question has arisen. In the review of

Finance committee  Most certainly. The nature of the hedging that we have in mind relates to some examples. One example you may be familiar with is when the government sold its shares in General Motors and acquired approximately $3 billion, Canadian dollar equivalent, of funds. That was a large su

Finance committee  The provision relates to financial assets—I believe it is in the provision—that the government may acquire. The intent was with respect to currency provisions that may be acquired. The example of U.S. dollars was a clear one. Another one is sterling where the government sold off

Finance committee  It is in respect of the financial position of Canada and assets. The provision is intended for the management of those risks. All I would say is that when the provision was drafted, it was made to be explicitly permissive of hedging transactions like the ones I described.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, honourable members. It is our pleasure to be here to assist you with division 7 of the budget implementation act, number two. As announced in budget 2016, the government has conducted a review of legislation that provides authorities for the management of