Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour for his comments. I am pleased to answer that as a Quebecker in this House, I have a duty to the people of Lévis, Bellechasse and Les Etchemins to make sure the financial companies and manufacturers in my riding have easy access to capital so that they can expand into all 13 jurisdictions. At present, they have to overcome a lot of barriers, pay extra and put up with delays.
I would also like to read my colleague an excerpt from an OECD document:
Securities regulation is currently a provincial responsibility, but the presence of multiple regulators has resulted in inadequate enforcement and inconsistent investor protection and adds to the cost of raising funds.
We have seen examples of this. The OECD talks about additional cost, reduced security and inadequate enforcement.
The document goes on:
It also makes it harder for the country [Canada] to respond to changes in the global market place or to rapidly innovate.
The key to growth is the ability to react rapidly, and that is what we want to enable our companies to do.