Our system is based on self-regulation. The bank ombudsman is funded by the financial institutions. For some, that may seem to be a conflict of interest, since the banks fund the monitoring organization themselves. I'm not saying it's bad, but it seems to me that, on the consumer side, a number of things have been proposed, such as a coregulation system in which consumer organizations would play a bigger role. We should have been told why the self-regulated system is being maintained. I met with the people from the Canadian Bankers Association. They explained to me things that I thought were entirely reasonable. In that case, it's as though we were disregarding a significant problem and debate.
On February 15th, 2007. See this statement in context.