sound off

Canada and the world are faced with two two major crises: a deep economic recession and climate change. Thousands of the world’s leading scientists recently gathered in Copenhagen for an emergency climate summit. They had one overriding message for us all: climate change is even  worse than we thought and urgent action is needed more than ever—action that is bound to have significant economic impacts. At the same time Canada continues to shed hundreds of thousands of jobs in the manufacturing, mining and forest products industries.

What do you think that governments and businesses need to do to ensure Canadians a prosperous AND green future?

Unlike most other G8 countries Canada’s banks are in a stable and secure position because of strong regulation by our federal government.
In addition the government is using our taxpayer borrowing power to buy up to $125 billion Canadian mortgage securities held by the banks. That’s good for the banks. However, while the banks are basking in the benefits from government protection and taxpayer support they’re not doing enough to help families and businesses get through this difficult economic time.

What role do you think the banks can, should, play during the economic crisis? What changes do you think needs to be made to the banks and other credit lending institutions?