Madam Speaker, it has been absolutely fascinating listening to the Conservatives saying that Canada is protected because we have a wonderfully regulated system. They certainly do not want to protect consumers because that would be regulation.
The fact is that the Conservatives have opposed proper regulation of banks from the beginning. It is in their blood. They pretend that the dodging sub-prime mortgage crisis existed only in the states. It started to happen here in Canada because the government was deregulating the mortgage market and it was caught out. Canadian taxpayers now have to underwrite $26 billion of toxic assets. Taxpayer money is now being used to backstop the banks.
However, when it comes to protecting citizens who are being preyed upon and penalized through all kinds of unfair predatory practices, the government's response is to blame the individual by saying that if they had been sharper they would have been more financially literate and that if they had taken responsibility for their own lives there would not be a problem.
The problem here is systemic. It is systemic abuse of individuals by the large banks and whenever they are in trouble they go to their friends and get a bailout while citizens are left high and dry.
Why does my colleague think the Conservatives continually have it in for average Canadians? Why do they continually cover any corporate abuse that happens in this country?