"One of the issues discussed at the meeting was availability of credit. As the Minister has stated publicly before, he wants to ensure that Canadian businesses and individuals have access to credit during this economic turmoil…. We assured the Minister that the banks are committed to doing what they can to help Canada weather the recession and that they will continue to lend to credit-worthy individuals. It's important to remember, however, that banks represent only about half of the credit market for small and medium-sized businesses. And it's among some non-bank sources of financing that we are seeing some pullback I making credit available."
