Thank you.
Yes, it's something I would like to pursue with the federal government, because it's my understanding that the ability to regulate provincially is only given once there is a demonstrated limit on the amount of interest that is being charged. I'm not sure that's happened yet in, say, Ontario. It's something I'd like to follow up on because it seems to me the banks provide excellent services and products in addition to financial products. I think there's an opportunity through the banks to actually help people understand how finances work so that they can protect themselves against this kind of problem. It is an issue.
One concern that comes up and is maybe something that could be looked at is the issue of identification, that sometimes very low-income people don't have all the necessary identification to cash cheques when they go into a regular financial institution. I know, for example, that in Parkdale, which I represent, there's a nice, big TD Bank branch and a big Scotiabank branch—the banks have not abandoned that community, for sure—yet we have a plethora of payday loan companies. Why does someone go into one and not the other? I think it's probably an issue of identification that presents the barrier. That's maybe something we can try to work on together to see how we can improve it.