March 25, 2020 - The Institute has established an expert crisis working group for finance and monetary policy, co-chaired by David Dodge, former Governor of the Bank of Canada, and Mark Zelmer, former Deputy Superintendent of OSFI. The group’s first meeting was held on Monday, March 23, 2020.
The crisis working group is calling for an expansive government guaranteed credit facility, in tandem with various fiscal measures, to help Canadians and the business community survive the COVID-19 economic crisis. Possible features of the facility could include:
- 100% guarantee by the Government of Canada, and available to Canadian firms either through federal and provincially-regulated deposit-taking institutions, or crown agencies like Business Development Bank of Canada, Export Development Canada or Farm Credit Canada.
- Eligibility for any firm that was solvent as of February 29, 2020 to borrow, with a maximum amount negotiated by the borrower and lender, based on an assessment of the borrower’s capacity to repay in a normal business environment.
- The facility would be open until such time as the public health crisis has passed and economic activity restarted. At that point any borrowings would be repayable over the subsequent five years at a rate charged at a premium to commercial terms.
For more information, please contact: Jeremy Kronick, Associate Director of Research, C.D. Howe Institute; Laura Bouchard, Communications Manager, C.D. Howe Institute: Phone: 416-995-9365; email: lbouchard@cdhowe.org