Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First of all, I want to inform you, Mr. Chair, that I'll be giving my next turn to my fellow member Mr. Morrice from the Green Party.
I'm going to start with a comment.
Ms. Borden, your story touches me a great deal. I find it appalling, and I sincerely hope that we, as legislators, and the government will manage to put rules and laws in place so that this type of situation never happens again.
I would like to ask a slightly more technical question. I'm referring again to the “Consultation on Fighting Predatory Lending by Lowering the Criminal Rate of Interest”, published by the Department of Finance in 2022. It says, “Since the criminal rate of interest is applicable to all credit products in Canada, except for payday loans made in accordance with section 347.1 of the Criminal Code, it is a very broad measure.”
Here are two quick questions.
First, should there be additional exceptions?
Second, should payday loans be subject to the criminal rate of interest?