Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions today. The first is in support of postal banking. Nearly two million Canadians desperately need an alternative to payday lenders, because their crippling lending rates affect poor, marginalized, rural and indigenous communities most.
We have 3,800 Canada Post outlets already in existence in rural and remote areas, where there are few or, very often, no banks. Canada Post already has the infrastructure to make a rapid transition to include postal banking. Therefore, the petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to enaction Motion No. 166 to create a committee to study and propose a plan for postal banking under the Canada Post Corporation.