How did the Ottawa job come about?
I have a very good friend in Ottawa who said, “Clément, with the financial crisis, they have some appetite here for a person with lots of experience in the banking sector. And people in the Finance Department know you because you bothered them with your bearish views. So why not take on this challenge?” You have a reputation for calling it like you see it. Can you do that in the federal bureaucracy? At 53, it’s hard to change my personality. I’m not going to Ottawa to make a lot of friends. Were you attracted by the chance to help redesign the financial rules? I think we will write history. It’s important not to punish the system too much. We have to keep financial innovation, but we have to prevent some of the exaggerations we have seen. From an intellectual point of view, I see the next two to three years as very, very exciting. And after that job, Ottawa will still have a lot of opportunities for me. But how can you possibly leave Montreal for Ottawa? I can travel back on weekends f
