Mr. Rob Wright:

I am sure he will be happy to do that. I would reinforce a couple of observations we made at the time we produced the report, four years ago. On the financial sector, one of the big differences I saw was that treasury operations in the Department of Finance, with some highly trained and skilled economists, was moved out to set up the NTMA in early 2002 or around that time. In Canada, the treasury operations are an integral part of our Department. They are in the same branch that manages financial sector policies, so during some troubling times in the financial sector, with a global meltdown, I was able to draw on great strength in that sector to get us through that. The Canadian regulatory framework was a much more active financial regulatory framework. It was not principles-based or light-touch, it was regulation. That was tracked very closely.

The Department of Finance had expertise, where I was told whether within the Department members of staff agreed with all decisions being made and they could tell the Minister whether they agreed, and they were expected to do that. Without that expertise from the NTMA, the Department really did not have the capacity to seriously question some of the regulatory decisions that were being made. One does not want to duplicate effort, but here is a broad area of economic risk. Much has happened since then. They have seconded people into the Department and, most importantly, there is a much more integrated effort with the great expertise in the NTMA and the Department. There was a real gap there and they have made a number of changes to improve it.