Let me tell you briefly how the Canadian economy has performed under the flexible exchange rate system and describe the main forces that have been acting on our exchange rate.
First, the ECB revived the longer-term refinancing instrument that had proven particularly effective in the aftermaths of the Lehman demise. Central bank liquidity was made available to banks for up to three years. This eased the pressure particularly on banks located in the jurisdictions that had been hit by the sovereign debt crisis.