Hi everyone, and welcome to the second day of the DC3 conference from Cryptocurrencies to CBDCs. In this fireside chat, we'll explore whether digital currencies can take financial inclusion to the next level. My name is Stefanie LeLore and I'm here with Mr. Bisoy Dasgupta. Please Bisoy come to switch on your camera is the chief economist at e-currency. I'm with Mrs. Fertima Vanisa Day. She's a crypto lawyer at generaljenivalegal.ch. Mr. Chris Ostrovsky is the global head of public sector engagement at CELO. Mr. Siao Shen-San, principal manager at Amazon AWS. And we'll see a prerecorded video from Mrs. Catherine White. She's an Accenture Fellow at the World Economic Forum. Welcome to you all. As you might know, according to the World Bank, there are still about 1.7 billion adults worldwide who do not have access to financial services. However, we now have the technology to create digital currencies that can offer low-cost, safe, and real-time payments, removing some of the main barriers to financial inclusion. Suddenly, for the first time, they excluded the vulnerable, the invisible, have the choice to access to financial services that they could never dream of. Although surely in a quite unstable and unpredictable environment yet due to the high volatility, sorry, of cryptocurrencies, yet the changes here and the governments and financial institutions are embracing it. So the objectives of this session are to consider first, what are the advantages, the challenges, and the risks that the various type of digital currencies could pose for financial inclusion? And secondly, what can governments do to address them? So Bijoy, are you ready? Thanks, yes. Good morning, good evening to all of you. I'm ready. Thanks, Stephanie, for that kind introduction. This is Bijoy Dasgupta from, based in Washington, DC, with the currency. And I'm going to talk, you know, my opening remarks are really from the work which we've been doing at the ITU's Digital Currency Global Initiative, the Policy and Governance Working Group of which I'm a vice chair. And let's talk about some of the policy principles which are needed for financial inclusion, which is what we've come up in the group. So really there are eight of them. The first one, digital currencies must be interoperable as otherwise financial inclusion cannot be achieved if consumers, businesses, governments, all of us really cannot engage in peer-to-peer transactions across different systems. This is the first key pillar. The second one, of course, is that digital currency should operate through competitive and open networks to reduce costs and increase accessibility for all. The third pillar, of course, is they must be secure as otherwise cyber attacks and other breaches can undermine trust because at the end of the day, trust is at the very heart of what their digital currencies are all about. The fourth pillar is effective regulation and supervision. We heard a little bit about governance yesterday in the cross-border CPDC panel and this is really, really very important to ensure safety, soundness, stability, and we talk about investor protection, consumer protection, data protection, very much so. Next slide, please. So if we come to the second set of policy principles, and again, there are four of them, the fifth one is about access. And this is really very, very important. We must have universal access and in conjunction with that policy efforts should aim to close the digital divide as much as possible. The next pillar, which the working group talked about and arrived at as part of their deliberations, is again to talk to mitigate the risk of exclusion. And here, both the financial intermediaries and governments should aim to advance digital financial literacy programs. You know, very often we take this as a given, with the world, we're here in kind of year four, year five in the digital age, 2022. But again, I think that in our deliberations, it was clear that the financial literacy is still lagging in many parts of the world, even in advanced economies like the US. The next pillar, which we've identified, is a national digital identity system would be helpful for facilitating adoption. Now, this could be through biometric means or other innovations. You know, there is the other program in India, which is a biometric program, and there are other programs around the world. But I think the bottom line is, to the extent possible, we should be using the digital identity systems for adoption. Last but not least, in terms of pillars, is a centralized data registry could also be helpful for a facilitating adoption. And here we've got a balanced data sharing with safeguarding privacy for the public good, and we'll come to that later on during the course of this hour. For data sharing, the basic issue is that the banks, usually banking systems, to collateral-based lending, whereas the promise of fintech and non-banks is we can move to non-collateral-based lending using some of our behavioral data analytics which come from when we use digital currencies for payments and use our track record there. Next slide, please. So these are the eight key pillars, and I just wanted to highlight that the bank of Jamaica, the governor you heard from yesterday, and their CBDC project, which uses a bare instrument for retail CBDC development, financial inclusion is a key driver there. And we are designing and implementing that project to achieve both financial inclusion and some of the other policy objectives of the project. And the use cases are, okay, just two minutes, and the use cases are both bank and non-bank CBDC wallets. Stop, thanks for that, thanks, Stephanie. Thank you very much, Bijoy, very interesting. So now Fatima, are you ready? Yes, thank you for giving me the floor and thank you for inviting me to this fireside chat. So I'm gonna delve right away into the topic. You mentioned that Stephanie, 1.7 billion people are deemed to be unbanked, and more of that are also considered to be what we call underbanked. So meaning that they like an account at a financial institution or mobile money provider. So the key here is in our discussion is about healthy financial inclusion because I mean, obviously we can connect them to the financial system, but it shouldn't lead to any negative kind of consequences for them, such as being over-independent and so on. And in that context and healthy financial inclusion would mean that individuals and businesses have access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs, it being transactional payments, savings, credit which is an important one and insurance which are all delivered to them in a responsible and sustainable way. So I took this definition from a World Bank report. So definitely this is a very humble goal to pursue when phrased in such a way, but there are the barriers to financial inclusion. So our dear colleague Bijoy mentioned some of them in the pillars, but usually there are categorized into three broad categories, being social, cultural, demographic barriers. So people distrust the current financial system, there's literacy issues, safety issues. We can even think of religious, social and cultural ones. Infrastructural barriers, lack of reliable internet connection, electricity, other form of requirements for connectivity, mobile phones, ID as well, and so on and then financial barriers. So for instance, the cost of the financial service are just too high. So these are the more traditional barriers discussed. There is another category that for me is maybe the main barrier to financial inclusion, which is regulation. So there is so much regulatory hurdle, at least in the jurisdictions I'm familiar with, it being Switzerland, the European Union, or even the United States, which makes FinTech innovation very slow and costly. And therefore the private sector just has a way harder time to bring this innovation to people and then also gain more financial inclusion within that country or jurisdiction. Therefore I don't think necessarily that retail CBDC is the key to financial inclusion. However, better regulatory environments, better sandboxes, easier access for just FinTech innovations would be key for this financial inclusion, it being through the integration of CBDCs or stablecoins or any other form of cryptocurrency or else. Nonetheless, it's worth noting here that CBDCs have a form of regulatory advantage over the other private FinTech innovations or private sector, just because it comes from central banks and from financial authorities that have an easier access to the regulatory needs to see their regulatory needs met in order for CBDCs to be integrated and adopted by most of the population. So therefore it will be a big drive for the financial inclusion in my opinion. Here it is. I hope it was within the five minutes. Perfect Fatima, thank you very much. Very interesting. So no, Chris, it's your, you're on stage now. Thank you very much. Thank you Fatima. Thank you, Stephanie and Bijoy for your presentations. Yes, my name's Chris Ostrowski. I'm the global head of public sector engagement at CLABS which is the software company that serves the Selo blockchain. I'll explain what the Selo blockchain is in a minute. I previously worked for OMFIF which is a central bank think tank in London and there I set up the Digital Monetary Institute which was a place where all central banks shared their thoughts and their fears on CBDCs, cryptocurrencies and I suppose sharp and accelerating changes that have occurred in the past two years. I certainly saw a big difference myself in that environment from the end of 2017 in the beginning of 2018 where digital currencies were not taken particularly seriously by central banks to the point at the beginning of 2020 where there was a real hunger in first for more information. And we're at the point now where most central banks have made some sort of statement about CBDCs. Many have some sort of proof of concept or pilots going and more have various research departments and research projects where they're looking at how a CBDC might help them in their country. So this is a fascinating time to be talking about digital currencies, about central bank digital currencies and stable coins. And certainly in emerging market countries one of the main policy objectives that is often articulated by central banks is financial inclusion. And when I started working for Celo in September the thing that I certainly noticed was that financial inclusion is one of those things which pretty much everyone is in favor of. You seldom if ever hear a politician never hear a politician or a central banker say that against financial inclusion. So I think we all agree that this is something that is good that if it can be achieved it is a worthy aim that can improve people's lives. I did have a similar definition to Fasma because she's already read it out. I won't repeat what she said. But the idea of being able to access financial products that are sustainable and useful including payment savings credits and insurance is something which we can agree is what financial inclusion is. And as Fasma said, simply creating a CBDC doesn't necessarily drive financial inclusion. There are different types of central bank digital currencies that the Chinese have issued a very interesting CBDC in the last few days. It's still a pilot which is to be mainly tested at the Winter Olympics but the actual ECNY CBDC app that you can see on your phone you can see very clear videos of how it works is quite a step forward. But does it drive financial inclusion? It's difficult to see when you look at what the CBDC app that the Chinese central bank have issued it's difficult to say that on its own drives financial inclusion. It's certainly very impressive in it the way it links to your bank account the way it gives people sort of spending limit options and those sorts of things will certainly make the user experience better if the project's a success. But it's hard to say that it drives financial inclusion. At Selo, what we are trying to do is create a situation where everyone and anyone with a mobile phone has access to any form of currency that they wish. And this obviously means that for people who have never had a bank account and never used mobile money before we're talking about a form of financial inclusion that really is a marked change in people's lives. So if you are someone who has only used cash and uses cash for 90% of your transactions day to day then getting all of those transactions into a digital environment where you use it on your phone is only really possible if the technology exists to allow safe and secure transactions on a mobile phone. Selo uses the blockchain technology and the unique thing about Selo's technology is that it is mobile first. So it is the only blockchain which is entirely mobile native. So all the apps are built on a mobile phone. Anyone who wishes to add to the blockchain and build new products and services can do so. So if I can just paint the picture to you where you can have a CBDC or a stablecoin which is accessible on any mobile phone and you don't need a laptop or a private or public key like you do for normal cryptocurrency you simply have it on your phone. You can use that to transact with anyone else in your own country or elsewhere for very low or almost minimal charges. You can buy and sell things with this app either remotely or in your immediate vicinity and you also have access to the type of products that are simply never going to be available if you have cash. You have access to credit ratings because your payments can be recorded over previous weeks and months. You might have access to a micro insurance product that would never be possible to be developed because of how de-risking occurs with big financial institutions. And you might also have access to the sorts of sort of cashing out and credit policies and micro insurance that would simply not be possible with the current system. And in some ways this is- I'm sorry. Go ahead. Thank you. So that's the vision of what sellers subscribe to you creating the conditions of prosperity by driving financial inclusion. Thank you very much, Stephanie. Thank you. So no, Sao Shen, are you here? Yes. Welcome. So thank you very much for this invitation and I have enjoyed the discussion yesterday and also today and my name is Xiao Jun Jiang and I'm with AWS. And you probably wonder, why AWS is interested in this topic and also what we can just potentially help in this discussion. And I'm in the federal financial team and our team have helped financial regulators to address the different challenges that they may face. And the central bank with digital currency is definitely one of them. And the interest, of course that's, I don't want to claim or I think, from many of the central bank related conversation as in even no central banks will claim that CBDC is a panacea for financial inclusion. And it is really as a policy objective which has been raised by many central banks that it has the potential to just really address financial inclusion in a different way and then becoming a new tool or even a potentially effective tool in addressing the challenge. And I can build my conversation with what has been shared by speakers earlier that's full financial inclusion that it's really, we need to first talk about the financial exclusion and why people are excluded from the financial system. So here that you can see some of our categorization that some are accessing to unsuitable financial services and then they, some basically because of this unsuitability self excluded from the system, like there are costs related, trust related or need-based obstacles for individual citizens to embracing the financial services. Then there's also another category, no access to any financial service at all. And that is related to the ATM local bank is too far there's different challenges that the earlier speaker are already just to talk about. So here that's how to just help central banks to make if financial exclusion is a policy goal for their CBDC project and how can they design to make CBDC address financial inclusion and also how to just later implement a CBDC and which really deliver the result. So here that's, there are a couple of things that we communicated with our central bank cosmos in the way that we call it as inclusive CBDC framework, ICF. And there are a number of components which are important. Number one is policy and not alignment. So if the financial inclusion is really a policy objective and that has to be really included from the beginning of the design of the research of also the different options which need to be really included at a policy level to align the CBDC whole design with the financial inclusion as a policy objective. And if address those barriers mentioned by the speakers earlier, if there's the economic concern, if it is a trust concern and how can the design reflect that concern designed for the purpose. The second piece of people is really serving both the formal and informal economy. So many of the financial inclusion is because many of the citizens are operating in the informal economy and how can CBDC be leveraged to really supporting not only the formal economy but also the informal economy. And I think that's also extremely important. The third piece is the protecting data privacy and data security. If a system which doesn't provide privacy and that doesn't provide that confidence that this will provide them a security system, their data could be temperamental or potentially that will also jeopardize the adoption and how to design in the way to really protect data privacy and data security. And another piece is training and education. When central bank choose a CBDC solution you have also made the decision on how much and on what's the training and education will be needed for your staff, for intermediaries and also for citizens. And how can you do that? Sorry, we need to wrap up. Sure, last two pillar, number one is enable innovation and how to enable other service provider to design service. The last piece is the hardware and offline solution where that's definitely need to address the technology and the infrastructure really be challenged and make sure that this is a tool which available for all. Thank you. Thank you very much, Dao Shin. Now we are going to watch a video from Catherine White. Hi everyone, I'm Catherine White, an Accenture Fellow at the World Economic Forum Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution based in San Francisco. I'm happy to be here at the DC Theory Conference in this discussion about financial inclusion. In my fellowship work at the forum, I co-lead the Digital Currency Governance Consortium or DCGC, which is a global community of digital currency experts, which was launched in the spring of 2020. DCGC is comprised of 85 member organizations across 33 countries around the world. In November of 2021, we published an eight part white paper series compendium report. Of those white papers was an in-depth study of stable coins for financial inclusion, as well as a look at whether blockchain-based digital currencies might help make cross-border aid disbursement more effective and efficient. I had the pleasure of leading our research for the exploration of blockchain for cross-border aid disbursement. To begin, we acknowledge that the biggest challenges facing cross-border aid disbursement are, in fact, human process and geopolitical challenges, which technology alone cannot remedy. However, many organizations are piloting whether blockchain-based solutions can bring more effectiveness and efficiency to aid disbursement. So we interviewed over a dozen global humanitarian aid organizations, such as the Danish Red Cross, Mercy Corps, Oxfam, UNICEF, World Food Program, Cash Learning Partnership, as well as the major multilateral development banks and key stablecoin operators. Across all the pilots conducted, the top three benefits cited for using blockchain for cross-border aid disbursement were an increased visibility and transparency for funds transfer, increased access to banking for the recipients, and cost efficiency of the payment transfer was reported across many of these pilots. However, there were many challenges cited through the pilot projects, and the top three among these across all of the ones we interviewed were a potential to increase the digital divide, data protection for the end users, and an uncertainty and lack of regulation in the locales. We noted also that serious ethical questions and nuances arise regarding the testing of emerging technologies on people who may be caught up in crisis or find themselves in a vulnerable state, as there are considerable risks to tracking targeted groups of people. However, vulnerable populations also risk being left behind as technology advances. So given the current momentum and volume of pilot projects, it's likely that cross-border aid disbursement will continue to include and even increase the use of blockchain-based digital aid in years to come. In a recent episode of Coin Desk Money Reimagined podcast, members of DCGC discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated mobile use for aid disbursement. For example, the field workers at the humanitarian organizations had to go remote and rely completely on mobile deployment. It was also raised in this episode the point about the private sector being crucial for advancement of humanitarian aid innovation, because the international organizations have the offices and outposts where aid is needed, and they know what modalities to use for the people in those communities, but the private sector has prowess in the deployment of the technology, which can be best done by them. So we have to rely on each other's core strengths of each sector to advance financial inclusion and innovation. I invite you to read the DCGC's companion report and listen to the Money Reimagined podcast following the link shared here. Thank you very much for listening, and I hope you have a wonderful discussion today. Thank you all. So now we'll enter our Q&A session. So for the audience, please, if you have any questions, just type them in the Q&A section and our panelists will try and answer to you. So this session is very interesting and to me, it's a pleasure to moderate since I've been working in Latin America to implement blockchain technology for financial inclusion, and I'm pretty aware of all the limitations that you face where the technological solutions is not enough, as was mentioned in all of this panel. And I think we could maybe sum up the most common barriers of financial exclusion, maybe Sao Shen, you want to sum up what was said in the different panels and your view on it. Sure, thank you for the question. And I think our earlier panel already just referred to this and there are a lot of different categorization, but if we just bring different perspective together and then there are really four type of barriers or three type barriers as others already mentioned. From the economic barriers, we are looking at financial exclusion caused by lack of access to formal economy or formal services. Many of the underserved population works in a shadow economy that is often cash-based and the second barriers in a culture barriers, financial exclusion is often caused by self-exclusion due to traditions or simple lack of trust in financial sector and market barriers and then exclusion caused by lack of competition which fails to provide incentives to service the underserved. The underserved are not traditionally a profit market segment which limit the type of entities waiting to serve them. And the last but not least, technological barrier and a lot of exclusion caused by lack of infrastructure or access to modern technology and access to consistent electricity, internet, technological devices is often lacking among underserved population. So however, many of the underserved are now familiar with mobile technology as access has increased dramatically but even when you have CBDC which are mobile based and then there's still access to mobile devices and I think those are the categorizations which we use. Thank you very much. So before we go to the specifics on how CBDCs would actually lift financial inclusion and maybe Chris, could you, I have this question for you. How will financial inclusion will be judged as a success? How will we measure the success? I think you have to look at people having more power over their lives in a really kind of clear and obvious way. It has to be measurable and it has to be clear. I think simply using currency on a device doesn't necessarily make it more inclusive. It's also what can you do? What are you allowed to do? If you have the opportunity to use currency on a mobile phone, yes, to make it accessible it has to be as easy as making a phone call. You do rely on a mobile device in someone's hand. You do rely on electricity. You do rely on some sort of coverage. Though the way the seller blockchain is designed is not necessarily designed for a smartphone. It could be a cheap mobile phone that you get from the market that just has SMS messaging. So if it's as easy to send an SMS message, if it's as easy to make a phone call and then it gives you access to pay for things on credit monthly, it gives you the opportunity to save and to borrow in a way that cash doesn't. Then you have moved the needle on financial inclusion. And in a way more important than all of that, as we discussed, Web 3, I mean the best examples that we heard there from Catherine in her video was a disbursement. The seller blockchain is mainly used at the moment to dispense aid. So Oxfam, the UN World Food Programme, the World Bank, Care International, they use the seller blockchain to deliver cash benefit payments directly to people. And there are all the issues that Catherine rightly raised that need caution, but that gives the opportunity for people to have access and financial empowerment in a way that they didn't previously. So if a CBDC offers that, offers those changes that are not allowed for people who currently don't have access to a bank account, don't have access to cash, then we can judge it to be a success in terms of financial inclusion. Thank you, Chris. I really like the way you said it should be as easy to transact as to send an SMS on a mobile phone. Thank you very much. So now be sure you have this question for you. Could you elaborate on how CBDCs would in practice help lift financial inclusion in your vision? Thanks, Stephanie, for that question. Great discussion so far. So at the end of the day, what is a CBDC? CBDC is an instrument, it's a digital instrument just like cash, which can be used across all payment rails. It's a liability of the sovereign government or the central bank. It is absolutely safe. It is not a big tech. It is not a stable coin or a cryptocurrency. It is a liability of the state. It's a safe, secure device which can be used, instrument which can be used across all devices, mobile phones, smart phones, the old fashioned phones and they can be linked to bank accounts, they can be linked to e-money and all of that stuff. So at the end of the day, what are we trying to do or what are countries trying to do? They're trying to provide a safe, secure instrument which is easily accessible across all payment rails. And it's fast, it's instant settlement, it's cheap. Now let's come back to how would it operate in practice? Let me give an example. Let me look at Jamaica or Indonesia for that matter. Half the population is non-bank, everybody has a mobile phone. Actually more than the mobile phone penetration is over a hundred percent, right? Now what you're trying to do is the bank-led financial inclusion is not working and neither is the e-money-led financial inclusion and I won't even get to stable coins because there are issues related to the issuer and the liability of the big tech company supporting it. So what CBDC does, it provides the instrument and that instrument since it can operate across all payment rails, it's a safe and secure instrument and you and I can send money to each other and by using that instrument, we're building up a payments history and that data that we are generating, both banks and non-banks can use to roll out a lot of other products, financial products, formal financial products, be it a credit product, a saving product, an insurance product. So it opens up that entire landscape in a secure, safe and fast settlement way, right? And that's the beauty of CBDC. It allows the instruments, see how I'm sure we've talked about, there are a lot of barriers and technology and all of that stuff, but that instrument is the beauty and then it's a public-private partnership where the public sector rolls out the instrument, the private sector innovates and leverages on top of that. Thank you, Vishoy, you're surely enthusiastic about this, it's very nice of you.  And why are central banks taking a little time to roll it out? Because they are thinking about all the sort of the coins and they're designing it correctly to take into account some of these things we have to sort of watch out for. Oh, thank you, Vishoy. That's perfect for the next question I have for Xiao Shen. Xiao Shen, how can central banks just plan, design and architect this inclusive CBDC and realize the potential of CBDCs for all? Yeah, thank you very much for the question and I see a lot of questions actually are also around that. And one particular area we focus on this inclusive CBDC design principle and I shared just within the policy alignment with serving both formal and informal sector, protecting data privacy, data security and provide training and education, enabling innovation and also hardware offline solution. In general, those are the key component appealers that central banks need to address if financial inclusion is one policy goal that's all if it's the desired outcome they are looking for. And again, that go back to the exclusion or the hypothesis, what happens and which prevents citizen to just enjoy a benefit from the financial service, then the CBDC really tap into that. And some of the questions in the discussion about in the environment or in a country which there's a technology barrier, there's KIC related barrier and then those are exactly the type of barriers where for central banks when designed this and then how to just leverage existing technology infrastructure, make the CBDC available 24 seven and how to just scale up or scale down the system to make sure that the cost related concerns can be addressed and how to just using different type of API and the solutions to make sure that the privacy and the data is being protected and also the system is secure. So all those really can be really addressed by the choice of technologies and also the service that the system is leveraging and we are working with many central banks on that, yeah. Thank you, Sarshan. Thank you very much. Now I'm going to you Fatimah with a question but first it's very nice to listen to you all and we're all turning around the fact that okay, everybody wants financial inclusion. Okay, so yes, but sometimes in the way of our good intentions you know, we are missing the point now because we're still having 1.7 billion people out of the system. So the very blockchain industry starts with Bitcoin and with this dream of financial inclusion, many, many bit coiners are fanatics about financial inclusion and the revolution blockchain brings to this particular issue. So Fatimah, in your opinion, is the broader decentralized finance space concerned about financial inclusion or still concerned about financial inclusion? Thank you for this question. I do believe so and you're right for financial inclusion or the narrative of banking, the unbanked which is not necessarily a narrative that is good to be promoted anymore in the way it was before but it's still very prevalent in the, at least within the decentralized cryptocurrency space it being Bitcoin or Ethereum mainly. Let me just add a point here to the entire discussion we had so far. So our perspective seems to be very micro or country by country. So we see financial inclusion as whether or not someone is connected to the financial system of the place it resides for instance or with very limited cross-border applications of remittances and so on. This number of 1.7 billion I would put in perspective with being connected or included within the more global financial system that we have today. And I think this is where cryptocurrency brings a lot of innovation because one can just plug into this like global financial system where you can borrow cryptocurrency land you can do a lot of, I mean I have access to a lot of financial products in a decentralized way which means in a permissionless way. So no one has to authorize you to be able to access that system while if you look at just jurisdictions and how the legacy financial system works today countries can be entirely excluded from the SWIFT network or from being just connected to the global financial system. And this is a huge financial exclusionary event that should not be underestimated. So it is very important that we focus on micro inclusion but it's also as important that we focus on micro inclusion in that sense. If I can just add another point. So I saw someone ask a question about KYC in the chat and that's where I think that the decentralized finance space does care and focus for financial inclusion where the way the decentralized finance products are created or designed, it means that it's either peer to peer or peer to protocol or to smart contracts. So you never have to interact with one centralized entity and therefore they do not necessarily need the same regulatory approvals or licenses that the just legacy FinTech sector would need to be able to provide these products. And because of this then you do not have to go through any KYC email for instance, checks where for instance you would be just or your country of residence would be excluded as a blanket exclusion from this product without any kind of underlying valid justification as to your person. I'm happy to discuss more about this. This is one of my favorite topics. Thank you very much. But actually I have another question for you maybe to compliment what you said before. What do you think the CBDC's builders can learn from the latest developments in the crypto ecosystems like from DAO's from DeFi from NFTs is it there? I think there's a lot to learn and one usually some people say that CBDCs themselves are highly inspired but what happens in the cryptocurrency industry, let's say. So now that also stable coins are very important and a big, big part of the cryptocurrency space CBDCs have to come in also for the native currency to remain relevant in this highly technological era that we're going through. So I think one thing that I would love to see and I think it could be interesting is for CBDCs to see how they can be compatible with other for instance for with NFT marketplaces, which is quite trendy right now or just with decentralized finance financial products also with regards to decentralized autonomous organizations how with the help of CBDC one can imagine new forms of companies or organizations that would be built in a similar manner that DAO's are built and created coordinated on the blockchain. I think there's a lot to get inspired from and also it would be interesting to just monitor what's happening in the decentralized space to see where the focus of the market is and what people are using and need for instance we see in countries where CBDCs where there would be a need for financial inclusion but the native currency is very volatile or is going to hyperinflation for instance people do adopt stable coins or cryptocurrencies in a way to hedge their risk against that native currency. So for instance, their CBDCs will not necessarily lead to a more healthier financial inclusion or system but then it will be interesting for these regulators or central banks to look into stable coins or other form of digital currency integration within the decentralized space. Yes, thank you very much Fatima. It's one of the points we're having to face in Argentina for example with very high inflation rates and our adopters are very attracted by stable coins and the possibility to save money and also to try and get micro-insurance services also. Thank you very much. Bishoy, I'm going back to you with this question. Do you know two potential concerns about CBDCs are disintermediating the banking system and undermining privacy, sorry. Are these real concerns and can they be taken care of with the right CBDC design and architecture? Thanks Stephanie for that question. Yes, these are concerns and that's why the CBDC designs are being architecture and designs are being done to take care of it. So we at the currency are implementing a CBDC in Jamaica and will soon be with many other central banks around the world. So the disintermediation concern is pretty much straightforward. You put in transaction limits, you put in holding limits but of course there is a bigger issue that banks at the end of the day don't need deposits to grow their credit. At the end of the day they need capital and they also need access to wholesale markets for funding. So yes, CBDCs can increase the cost of funding for banks a little bit but with transaction limits and holding limits that is a mitigate. Second thing on privacy, it is very, very important. Privacy is at the heart of the matter in terms of a CBDC system. So that's why the way we are designing the system at the currency is it's a bearer token instrument where you delink the identity of the holder of that token from what the central bank can see in terms of transactions. So that's why it's a public private partnership where the central bank can see the transactions but not who is doing the transactions. Let me just come back to one issue on stable coins and cryptocurrencies. Stable coins and cryptocurrencies have a lot of downside risk and when I hear people say that AML, KYC you can do it without that. It makes regulators and policy makers around the world very nervous because at the end of the day you can undermine the global financial systems. You can undermine monetary stability, sovereign stability, monetary policy and economy and all kinds of checks and balances. So all of these things have a lot of downside risks and clearly regulators and that's why I want to go back to the eight pillars that we put out under the ITUs and DCGI initiative and if you see all of them, it's very clearly designed and effective supervision is a key part of that story. Thank you very much, Bishoy. So, Chris, I'm back to you. I'd like you to tell me, in your opinion, what's the tipping points that will lead to mass adoption of digital currencies? I think ease of use and benefits which outweigh the current system will continue to become more and more obvious. I mean, the examples that we heard from Fatima there would answer the question for this panel is can digital currencies take financial inclusion to the next level? And the answer to that is for some people it already has. I mean, certainly in some places where there were big barriers to remittances, various people offered cryptocurrency solutions that let people transfer the same value for avoiding the barriers and there are certainly a couple of examples in Africa where a new form of remittance simply allowed people to bypass the systems. They didn't use their banks, they didn't use Western Union anymore and that worked. It's always kind of a bit sort of stop and start, you know, one country bans crypto exchanges and then another country allows them and that sort of thing. But right now there are examples of where people who have been excluded from the financial system have been able to do what they wanted to do through digital currencies. But that's not really the sort of thing. I don't really think that's the exact point of the question here. We're talking here about when will it become something that's normal enough, safe enough and regular enough for people to change people's lives, for it to move the needle. The technology already exists. If you can send a photo on WhatsApp to any of us and we're all in different parts of the world here, it is possible to send $5 as well. It's absolutely possible to do that. I think for central banks, they are eager to make sure that privately issued currencies don't become the norm in a way that threatens the current model and it's right to do that. So if you think about it from a central banks point of view, they haven't had their business model threatened for 350 years and now for the first time it is. And this is a big deal. This isn't a small deal. So the best solution from my point of view and Selo, unlike most actors in the crypto sphere, are big supporters of public money and big supporters of central banks and the guarantees that they can provide. Success would look like it being easy enough and for people to use it. And that means it being as easy as using a cryptocurrency instead. So if you were locked out of the system for whatever reason, for political reasons or because there are barriers to entry and you're thinking about using Bitcoin, if a CBDC existed that allowed you to do that, that would be the tipping point where you think, okay, now we've moved the needle away from cash and away from the system where there are barriers to entry to where it's used more widely. So the ease of use is the main tipping point for financial inclusion, for the adoption of digital currencies. When the ease of use is there in terms of devices, in terms of safety, in terms of public money being protected. And that does include some of the KYC and identity issues that B-Joy was talking about. Then I think we will have reached the tipping point. Thank you, Chris. And to wrap up maybe to conclude at this, I think as a personal opinion that trust in CBDCs will also be part of this tipping point now. And I was very interested by what Xiaoxian said that there are two different kind of financial exclusion. One is self-exclusion. And I really like to hear that and I thought a lot about it in the last weeks. And I thought, oh yes, definitely governments have to seduce the population to adopt this new technology and convince that they really want to use it for financial inclusion and that it's really going to change the unfairness of the actual system for part of the population and the unadaptability to their needs. So a lot of challenges for central bonds for governments, but also I'd like to remind what I think I don't remember who said it, but any one of you said that all the actors must participate. We can't expect financial inclusion if governments are not working on the subject if private companies, if financial institutions are not ready to collaborate. And so hopefully this new technology has brought us to think a lot and to move a lot and to change our paradigm. So welcome. And thank you very much to all. It was a very interesting panel. I'm very glad to have shared it with you. So now we'll just switch to the next session. So, okay, so we have, okay, sorry. So there will be two more sessions today for the stable coins track, sorry. So the next session will be at 2 p.m. CET on the challenges and opportunities for stable coins. It will be followed by the session on implementing interoperability for stable coins at 4 p.m. CET. So we hope you will join us for these upcoming sessions and I wish you all a very nice day and thank you again. Thank you very much. Goodbye. Bye-bye. Gifty.


I'm your host, Abe Lee. I have been a licensed real estate agent since 1973. I'm the owner of Century 21, our property's Hawaii, and I work with close to 100 wonderful real estate agents. I started AB seminars in 1980. I have taught over 11,000 students to help them get their real estate licenses and have taught continuing education classes for licensees to renew their license every two years. Our show is dedicated to helping buyers and sellers understand the process involved in a real estate transaction. Our special guests will talk about legal issues, escrow, title, getting our loan, surveys, home inspections, contracts, rules and trust, and developments. And we're so lucky today to have the premier of affordable housing developer named Peter Stapio. Peter, thank you so much for being with us. My pleasure to be with you, Abe. Peter and I started developments about the same time like decades ago and Peter went big time and I went small. So Peter's a big affordable housing developer and we'll talk about that a little bit, but Peter, for those of you, audience that may not have heard of you before, which I find very hard to believe, why don't you give us a little background of where you grew up, your family, and how you got involved in real estate? Well, I'm a local boy born in Hilo, raised on Oahu, went to St. Louis High School, University of Hawaii. Then only time I went away is like I went in the military and then came back, my mom was in real estate. And because of that, I used to help her with the paperwork. So at about nine years old, I started understanding real estate and by the time I was 11 or 12, I was full of real estate knowledge, bought my first property at 15 and have been in real estate ever since. So something I was raised with. Great. Like I say, you're the guru of affordable housing. So today we're gonna talk about a very unusual topic, which is condominiums of photovoltaic solar farm, which is unheard of. So to begin with, why don't you tell us what a condominium is? Okay, it's interesting because everybody thinks of a condo as a subdivision where you're subdividing a parcel and it is absolutely not that. A condominium is an ownership concept and it is a concept, it's a law that allows one building or one property to then be fractionalized into individual ownership interests so you can get a separate mortgage, a separate tax map key and buy and sell that interest independently, but it is not a subdivision. It is just the concept of ownership where you have a homeowners association and you're part of that, they maintain the common area but you own your unit and like I said, you can mortgage it, sell it, et cetera. So don't think of it as a real estate subdivision, think of it as ownership. Now you can condominium, condominium is almost anything, can't you? Pretty much so, as long as there's a built portion, not just land, well, I guess you can do land nowadays, so yeah, pretty much anything. Okay, so now today we're gonna talk about a really unusual system which you're developing called the photovoltaic solar condominium. You're telling us before that it's the first one in Hawaii, it may be one of the very few in the nation if you're not the first. So tell us about this concept and how you came up with it. Yeah, well, okay, part of the problem here in Hawaii is photovoltaic works best for someone who owns the home. So it turned out to be a program for the wealthy, for the homeowner and not for the individual renter or a business that's leaseable because to put the panels on a roof, you have to know you're gonna live there for the next 20 years or it doesn't make any sense. So the solar programs allows for something called community solar where you do a solar farm but it's owned by the community. But again, it was, to me, it didn't go far enough. You were just part of a huge Huey that owned an interest and you got a percentage of it, et cetera. And I thought, well, why not take that photovoltaic farm? Maybe it has 2,500 owners who are putting it in a farm rather than on their roof. And I thought, why not do it as a condo so they'll actually own it as a real estate interest? If they move, it goes with them. If they decide to go to the mainland, they can sell it. If they go into a unit where electricity is provided, they could also rent it to somebody else. So I was trying to take the photovoltaic community service program and make it more flexible. The other motivation was when you have the developer stay behind, you're paying him money. He's taking some of the potential of the profit. In my program, the developer develops, sells, gets out and the owners have a condominium association that manages it and takes it forward. But all of the potential, all of the value goes to the individual owners. So again, it was a structure designed to help local people who rent to be able to subsidize or get rid of their electric bill just like the owner of a house could do. Okay, that's really intriguing. Because no one has ever done this before, right? As far as, when we started, we assumed it was the first time. We couldn't find anywhere we could have been done. When we started to do the research about from a tax perspective, does it work? Is internal revenue gonna classify this as real estate or are they gonna classify it as a security? And I was pretty confident it was real estate because it's no different than what I do for an apartment building or an egg condo. It has photovoltaic panels, but other than that, it seemed to work. Well, when we actually started to check there was one property in Texas that had just received a verification from internal revenue that a photovoltaic condominium is real estate, not a security. So we know of one other property. It was like three or four months ahead of us. So it hit, the idea hit me and hit some mainland developer at the same time. Perfect. So how did you come up with this idea? I'm looking at our cost of living and electricity is a huge part of that and it keeps on going up just like rent. So I try to get people into ownership so they can lock in a monthly payment on a house which reduces their cost of living and gives them stability. They get to keep their pay raises. Well, it's the same thing with electricity. If you're constantly paying for electricity and it's constantly going up you may start with an electric bill of $200 and 10 years later it's 400 and 10 years after that it's six or seven or 800 a month. You get pay raises but it's being eaten up by this ever increasing electric bill. If you do photovoltaic then you have the potential to get rid of that cost. So the question was okay, we have like large buildings, hotels, hospitals they cannot use photovoltaic they don't have enough roof area. You got senior citizens living in condominium cannot get the subsidy because they don't have enough roof to put up photovoltaic. You've got people who rent whether it be an office, whether it be a home they don't qualify for photovoltaic because they don't own the roof to put the panels on. So community service kind of solved all of that because the electric company allows it to be owned by thousands of people. And to me the best part which really enticed me into doing it is they do the bookkeeping. They do the accounting. And the condo fit in perfect for that because in a condo you own a percentage of 100% the percentage interest. So my 10 panels may be 1,000 of a share but the electric company when the rent comes in will automatically bill you or put on your bill the money received. To me that was the most complex part of the whole process was for the next 20 years someone doing the bookkeeping to keep track of what your share is. And if you sell it to keep track of it the electric company does all of that. So to me it's actually heaven. Wow, no. I did not know about that part or the electric company will keep records. Yeah. The longer they keep the record tape they also automatically credit to your bill. So it's not like they send you a check and you get your electric bill and it says your bill is $400 minus $300 solar credit or whatever. And that's what happens. So it's really a simple process from the consumer side for the electric company. I'm sure it's nothing more than a really fantastic computer program but if an individual had to maintain that list and they got sick or something happened or they passed away you can imagine the chaos you could have. So the advantage of the electric company as long as you get electricity they're gonna be there. And as long as the panels are producing power they're buying it. So it just made so much sense. So how did you find out about the electric company would do the bookkeeping? I was complaining about photovoltaic and I was saying to be it's a program for the wealthy and it doesn't help the average person. And there's just no real excuse for that. You know, I was saying that the PUC should not allow mainland solar companies to come. All solar should be owned locally, not on the mainland. And somewhere in the process somebody said, well, you just want community solar. I'm going, well, what's community solar? And apparently there was a program called community solar where a developer could develop it and then sell it to members in the community. But to me it's nothing more than a solar farm with a mainland developer taking all the profits and the override and the leftover is kind of coming to us as a, you know, small bonus. I like the, I added the concept of the condominium because you basically, after it's sold, the developer is out of the picture. He shouldn't retain management or anything else. And 100% of all the going forward profits and things would go to the people. Also with the condo, you have a much more stringent disclosure requirement in terms of the condo, how it's structured, all of the facts, all of the studies, all of the reports. So to me it just made a lot of sense. And people in Hawaii, I think understand condo. They have ownership. So, you know, it's not like, well, I own a share of stock or I own a share in an LLC and there's 2000 of us in this LLC and somewhere, somewhere, someone's managing it. I mean, to me, I could see the guy at the affordable level being very uncomfortable investing in something like that. And very difficult to finance. Whereas the condo, you're financing in a particular unit, it's real estate. So to me, the condo just solved a lot of problems. And to me now, the only kind of solar we should allow is community solar when it's done as a condo and it's owned by the people of Hawaii and all of the benefits flow to the people of Hawaii. Okay, so let me get this straight. I was still a little hazy on this. If you develop a condo building and let's say there's 400 units, then there's your community of 400 solar owners. But you're saying a tenant that lives somewhere else can buy into your condo and then you get a credit and they can offset their utility bill as a tenant off of this condo ownership. Is that right? Correct. What happens, it doesn't matter where you live as long as you live on the island of Oahu. The solar farm has to be on the island of Oahu. So you could live in Hawaii Kai and buy a share in this solar condo. You could live in Kailua, Kanoi, North Shore, anywhere on the island. You could live and you could buy a share. And what happens is they have your name and they have your electric bill number in your address and the computer will automatically allocate the income received to the solar farm to everyone who's purchased and give it as a credit on the bill. So if you think about it, it's a simple program but an electric company tends to be forever where a developer has a life and he may be here today and God to borrow, you never know. But so with the electric company doing all the accounting, all the record keeping and they're putting it on your bill, if I was a buyer, if I was a renter, I'd be much more comfortable with the electric company doing that than some property management firm or some private individual. Who knows, maybe they'd have, it all goes down to the Philippines or India and some computer doing it there. I mean, here it just makes so much sense with the electric company doing it. That is fascinating. Now, did the electric company come up with this community solar program? Correct. Apparently it's a program that was developed nationwide with this concept of trying to get people in a community to buy into a photovoltaic and help reduce their electric bill. Remember, if you own a house, photovoltaic is wonderful. Put it on your roof, you're done.  And here in Hawaii, it's interesting because basically it tends to follow sort of a racial lie because the wealthy tend to be everyone living East Oahu or whatever they can afford it. The guys living out Y and I, they have no hope because a lot of them can't afford it or they're living in condos or they're living in rental units. So it's a question of equalizing the program so everyone benefits, all the people of Hawaii benefit. Now, if I did one on Maui, everyone on Maui could be involved. If I did one on the big island, everyone on the big island could be involved because Hawaiian Electric owns those entities also. But right now it's island restricted. So if you live here, you have to buy it to an Oahu solar fund. So now in the Hawaiian Electric model of the community, it'd be some sort of community like a subdivision or condominium building, but in your concept it's anybody can join your community. Anyone can buy, well, think of it this way, you have a condominium, some people would be owner occupants, some people would be investors from outside, right? So in my solar condo, basically nobody lives in this condo. Nobody's an owner occupant in this condo. They all are investors, but the electricity credit, if you're an owner occupant of a home or an apartment, will go to cover that electricity. If you're renting, the credit will go to cover whatever your electric bill is on your rent. So this is a, if you had to talk about investor owner occupant, this is really an investor owned condo. I think that's why we had this concern about is it a security or not, but our buyers are owner occupants and investors, depending on whether they own the house they're living in or the apartment or they're renting it. So it's kind of a variation of a typical condo because nobody lives in it. You just own it. This is amazing. Now, that's different. Yeah. How long ago did you start this thing and tell us a progression of process where you're now? We came up with the idea, I think about three, four years ago. And we did a little bit of checking. Then the power company came out with a RFP requesting proposals and we submitted and we won. So that's about a year ago. And then we started the process. We have found the law out in my elite and designing it and doing all of the studies and reports that are required. We're at the point now where we have another big hurdle or another step coming where we need to order some additional report to move forward. And we're supposed to have the project finished, I think by January of 2025 or 26 like we got. But there is a long process to go through the approvals and it's this interconnecting that becomes an issue, how you're gonna feed the power into the electric grid. In our case, they want us to have a battery system so they can use the power during the evening. Photovoltec on the roof and everything else works really well during the day. Doesn't work well at night. So they want our farm and I think most of the newer farms they'll probably require batteries because there's a need for the power during the evening. I think we've pretty much got the daytime covered with all the photovolteic and alternate energy programs we have, it's the evenings now that we need to get covered. So ours will be a battery program. So you have to, you say you have to do studies and it's gonna take you a few more years to get all the reports back. What kind of reports do you have to do? The studies will actually be done probably in the next four or five months. That part will be completed. Then the design and construction will start. It's sort of like building a subdivision or any building. There's a process you go for permitting, approval, then construction, then of course completion. And so the construction side should go relatively quickly because you're building basically on the ground but it's still gonna take probably a year, nine months to a year to build it. And again, a lot of it's just the electrical building, the connecting station, et cetera. I'm not an electrician or even wanna pretend I understand how all this process works. I understand the condo component but they say that this is actually a relatively fast process in terms of getting one of these farms online. Okay, so you're building out in Miley? Yes, that's our plan.  We're gonna have a 25 acre parcel. We should have enough power for 2,500 to 3,000 homes. So somewhere in that neighborhood of let's say 2,500 investors and like one family may need 10 panels. Another family may need 15, a business site need 25. A hospital might need 30,000 panels. So depending on the size of the customer, the beauty of the condo is you're not locked into just everyone has to buy 10 panels. Everyone has to buy this. It's very flexible. So it's the same thing again where the condo gives you the flexibility you need. The condo makes it work. So it just makes a lot of sense and it's a process we have to go through. So how are you financing the deal? And then you're gonna now sell it to individuals. Right, right now on the financing right now I basically been covering the cost and I've been advancing the funds. At some point it's like any developer we're gonna pre-sale and then we're gonna finance to get them pre-approved. And then when we start construction we'll get a construction loan based on the fact we free sold. And then when we do the takeout financing that's where we get our long-term finance. So it's not much different than any development process on the finance. The hard part is getting the lenders to understand what a photovoltaic condominium is and that it is real estate and that it does make sense. There is an interest you can foreclose on and the key is you can resell it because somebody will wanna buy it especially if there was a foreclosure or something because you'll be able to shelter or reduce your electricity cost. So it's like I say it's new and lenders in Hawaii they don't like new they like all very familiar typical type projects. I do everything a little different so I'm the crazy bad scientist but so far the lenders in most cases have understood what we're doing and most of my programs it's all about benefiting the community not about profit or anything else. And so a lot of times the lenders will finance a project I'm doing only because it benefits the community and they take a risk a little bit and they scratch their head and say well Peter says it's gonna work we'll see but you can't do it without the lenders support you can't do this without community support. People say oh Peter you're doing wonderful things all I'm doing is trying to organize the different groups within the community to get together and make this thing a reality. So which lenders are you working with now or can you say or do you have to wait? I've actually talked to almost every lender before I started or before I even got involved and basically gonna say would you even finance it? And they're all like well we don't finance solar farms or yes we've done a number of solar farms and I'm saying no no I don't want a 20 million or 30 million dollar load I want to loan to finance 10 panels and that's where they go huh what are you talking about? And then you got to explain what it is and you realize we're probably gonna have 30, 40, 50,000 panels in this farm it's huge, right? And by solar standards it's small, okay? But 30,000 panels is a lot of panels, 2,500 families they could each buy 10, 12, 15 panels. Think of a house when you drive by count how many panels are on the roof, right? So every family needs five or 10 or whatever. So that's gonna determine it. For a lender I think it's like everyone who's listening to this. I kind of understand it but how does it work? Or what if this happens or that happens? Well take photovoltaic out of it and say I own my apartment. I default on my apartment what's gonna happen? I move away what can I do with my apartment? So make it a residential apartment in your mind and all of the answers are the same with photovoltaic except you can't live in it. Whether you can rent it, you can sell it, finance it, can be foreclosed on, you have a board of directors they're elected, all the condo statute of price, all the protections are there. I mean it really works. This is amazing. You've taken the mystery out. So now I assume that you have an attorney that's gutsy as you and creative as you to say let's do it. We have a couple but yes, this one you have to have some specialized attorneys on electrical and those kinds of things. The condo side, my attorneys are gonna handle that. I think a lot of people have to understand when you do a condo, you automatically bring stability to whatever you're doing because you've standardized the rules and the regulation. And there's a lot of flexibility in the condo to make it work for any particular situation. But the key to the condo is you have standardized the process. You've standardized the legal standing. You've standardized what laws apply and don't apply. You've taken all the mystery out of it. And so for Hawaii, condos are one of the best structures to use if real estate's involved. And I would love, I wish they would allow condos to be used to, I'm gonna confuse again, but to subdivide because then you wouldn't have to go through subdivision approval and all of that effort. But again, it works well on apartment. It works well on agricultural. It works well with residential. But in residential, you need a subdivision before you can put the condo rules above that. So even if I was to do a subdivision, I would only do a condominium subdivision. All right, Peter, unfortunately we're out of time. We need to have you back again. And give you an update on what's going on because we really would like to see how this is progressing. How do they get a hold of you, Peter? Is it sabio.com or sabio.net? Sabio.com. Okay, sabio.com. Yeah, so get more information from Peter on his group there. And those of you that wanna share this video show, please do so. This is a fascinating show. Probably one of our most interesting ones that I've had in a long time. And use the think that Kauai, they have archives for this show and others that we've done. And if you need more information on the real estate school, we're at ableseminars.com for the real estate school. But Peter, I can't thank you enough. It was really fascinating. Thank you, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot, take care. Okay, folks, see ya. See ya.


My fellow Canadians, good evening. In the West, good afternoon. I want to speak directly to you today because Canada is at a crossroads. I know that the fight against COVID-19 has been difficult for all Canadians during the last six months. For too many people, it is a matter of life or death. And for all of us, collectively, it is the fight of our generation. In the spring, we all worked together to flatten the curve, and our efforts brought fruit. But now, the virus is returning in force in several parts of the country. In our four biggest provinces, the second wave isn't just starting. It's already underway. The numbers are clear. Back on March 13, when we went into lockdown, there were 47 new cases of COVID-19. Yesterday alone, we had well over a thousand. We're on the brink of a fall that could be much worse than the spring. I know this isn't the news that any of us wanted to hear. And we can't change today's numbers or even tomorrow's. Those were already decided by what we did or didn't do two weeks ago. But what we can change is where we are in October and into the winter. It's all too likely we won't be gathering for Thanksgiving. But we still have a shot at Christmas. Together, we have the power to get the second wave under control. I know we can do it because we've already done it once before. In the spring, we all did our part by staying home. And this fall, we have even more tools in the toolbox. People are wearing masks. That's critical. So keep it up. We've got the COVID Alert app. Take the teacher who felt fine but who tested positive after the app warned her she'd been exposed. COVID Alert meant she went home instead of the classroom. It's a powerful, free tool that's easy to use and protects your privacy. So if you haven't already, download it off the app store or Google Play. It's one more way to keep ourselves and others safe. Another is to get your flu shot this fall. The gestures we're making today will make all the difference on what will happen in two weeks and in two months. Wear a mask. It saves lives. Wash your hands. Keep your distance. Do your vaccines against flu. Listen to public health agencies, as Dr. Tam said yesterday, limit your social circle. Avoid taking risks that are not necessary. It's not the time to start. No one is invincible. And your loved ones are no longer there. We can't lower our guard, even in places where the number of cases is still low. And everyone, if you please, download the COVID Alert app. It's easy and free. It protects your privacy. And it's a gesture that will protect you and the people around you. This is the time for all of us, as Canadians, to do our part for our country, as government does its part for you. There's a covenant between government and the people government serves. You need to know that you can rely on us, just like you can rely on each other. When we face this crisis, when we are ready to rebuild, we will continue to be there for you. Government has presented a plan with four pillars to respond to this crisis. The first thing to do is to protect people's health. The actions of our parents and grandparents, those of the generation who have faced the Great Depression and the Second World War, remind us that we must be resilient and patient during the crisis. They have built the world today. And it's now up to us to build the world tomorrow, starting by protecting them. The situation experienced by too many of our children in long-term care centers is unacceptable. It has to change, and it will change. In the spring, we sent the Armed Forces to help, and the Red Cross is still on the ground. We will work with the provinces and territories to establish new national standards for long-term care. Job 1 is keeping people safe. That's why we're signing deals on multiple potential vaccines, on therapeutics, on personal protective equipment. In fact, because we mobilized this spring, Canadians are now producing almost every type of PPE we need. We're helping the provinces and territories ramp up their capacity on testing while creating a federal response team for surge demand. And as soon as there's approval for faster tests to be used safely, we'll get them out across the country. If you need a test, you should be able to get one This is about safety, and it's about what's right for Canadians. Protecting your health is the best thing we can do for the economy. So that's what we're working on first. And that brings me to the second part of the plan, supporting Canadians through this pandemic. The federal government will have your back, whatever it takes, to help you get through this crisis. Maybe you were one of the almost 9 million people who used the Canada Emergency Response Benefit this spring. We will continue to support all those who need it with a strengthened and broadened employment insurance system. Maybe your boss was able to keep you on the job or hire you back because the emergency wage subsidy helped with the payroll. People still need this program, so we're extending it right through to next summer. Or perhaps you're a business owner needing extra help to bridge to better times. For you, among other measures, we're expanding the Canada Emergency Business Account. And there's a lot more we're going to do. Go to canada.ca.coronavirus to see what support is available right now and how to apply. I know some people are asking how we can afford to do all this for Canadians. That's fair. The low interest rates mean we can afford it. And in fact, doing less would end up costing far more. Doing less would mean a slower recovery and bigger deficits in the long run. While we're dealing with this pandemic, I don't want you or your parent or your friend to take on debt that your government can bet her shoulder. So yes, in the short term, we'll keep investing. But beyond the emergency, as we start to build back better, we must do that in a fiscally and sustainable way. Investing for our recovery must be done responsibly. You know, the pandemic reveals fundamental inequalities in our society. But now, we have the opportunity to act so that it changes. We're going to build a better society for everyone by making the economy better for everyone. This is the third pillar of government approach. By creating a Canada-wide early learning and child care system, we'll ensure that kids have access to care and that no parent, especially no mother, has to put their career on hold. This pandemic has reminded us all that building strong social supports is essential to growing the economy. By accelerating progress on national universal pharmacare, we'll get people the medicine they need while alleviating pressure on the healthcare system. By investing to eliminate chronic guillotine, we're going to create safer and more prosperous communities. The housing isn't just a problem, it's also a solution. It creates jobs, it allows people to expand and contribute. We all want to build a stronger country for everyone. To do this, we have to double our efforts to fight climate change. It's also the best way to ensure good jobs for today and for tomorrow. Energy workers innovating to decarbonize. Auto workers building zero-emission vehicles, volunteers and construction workers delivering green retrofits for our homes and buildings. These are some of the people who will create a competitive economy of the future. As we do this work, protecting people's health, supporting Canadians, building back better, we can't forget what it's all for. Making sure that everyone can participate to their full potential. And that's the final part of the plan. In this country, we must keep making progress on reconciliation with indigenous peoples and on fighting systemic racism. Diversity is not just our strength, it's our competitive edge. Our differences enrich us, whatever the color of our skin, our beliefs, our culture, our language. In our country, we are proud to have two official languages, English and French that we will continue to protect. In Canada, we know that we are stronger when we are united and when we help each other. We face the challenges together. That's what helped us to deal with the crisis better than any other. This is not the first time our country has been called to stand united and strong. In the face of change, our greatest generation showed us that change isn't easy. They didn't give up, and neither can we. To parents feeling like you can't get your life under control, to kids wondering why mom and dad can't just fix this, to seniors feeling like there's nothing you can do and thinking about all the things you can't do, that's understandable. But can't will not define us. We can bend the curve. We can build a stronger future. We can define the change. Canadians are people who say, I'm capable. In each sector, in the four corners of the country, each of us is finally doing its part. The history of this pandemic is the history of people who make sacrifices, of people who work hard every day to be there for each other. And it's above all the history of the first-line workers, heroes from one ocean to another who have never hesitated, who have never retreated to this fight. You are a source of inspiration for all of us. We are at the crossroads and the future is between our hands. We're at a crossroads. There are many days to go before we get to the other side of this. But there are also many of us to get us there. So long as we each remember to do our part. And I know that we will. We are Canadians. And together, there's nothing we can't do. Take care of yourselves, my friends. Thank you.