And for this, we bailed out the banks?

Jim Flaherty swapped $75 billion of taxpayers’ money for a questionable pool of mortgages , in order to free up credit and allow taxpayers the privilege of losing $800 million a year in taxes from the LBO of BCE?

TD bangs drum for BCE buyout

Andrew Willis, November 12, 2008 at 7:37 PM EST

Give Toronto-Dominion Bank boss Ed Clark full marks for consistency.
The unflappable Mr. Clark stood four-square behind his bank's commitment to the BCE buyout on Wednesday. Where many bankers would resort to weasel words in talking their way around a potentially thorny situation, Mr. Clark was straight forward in supporting a client.

The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan purchase of BCE is expected to close by Dec. 11, and there has been speculation the four banks funding the deal will look for an exit ever since the credit crunch began in the summer of 2007. But TD Bank has been steadfast in its public support the deal, and speaking Wednesday at the Reuters Global Finance Summit in New York, Mr. Clark said: "I'm confident that we'll be there with our money."

Mr. Clark did say it was unlikely the debt would be syndicated before the buyout closed, adding it is difficult to syndicate loans in these markets, according to Reuters.

Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland are also lending on the BCE purchase. The Teachers and its backers have agreed to buy BCE for $42.75 a share, and the stock closed Wednesday at $37.30 on the TSX.