Industry Committee on Oct. 10th, 2024

[Krista McWhinnie]

As a Canadian, I can see the alarm. It's not directly within the scope of the Competition Bureau. If there was something kind of misleading driving that, that might be something we could look at, but I think questions about whether consumers are able to take on more debt than they should are more appropriate for financial regulators.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

As the regulating body, do you not see that—

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

Mr. Patzer, I'm afraid you're well over your time.

Mr. Généreux, I believe you have a point of order.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Yes, thank you. I would just like to correct my colleague Mr. Garon.

My colleague Mr. Perkins and I did not contradict each other. I was talking about the information people get when they receive a new credit card, not the record of transactions done with the card.

I'd also like to mention that the motion the House passed to recognize the Quebec nation was moved by a Conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper. My colleague should be very proud of that and thank us for it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

Thank you, Mr. Généreux.

I know we're coming to the end of the meeting and I clearly didn't manage the time very well, but, if I may, I'll take a brief moment to ask a question.

I have a question for the Public Interest Advocacy Centre.

We on this committee had a study on blockchain. We heard from various groups that described to us how new technologies like blockchain and crypto could bypass the legacy financial system in many countries for a fraction of the cost, exchanging value, exchanging stablecoins, for instance. Do you have any thoughts on what this could mean?

BlackRock just released a document saying that the adoption rate around the world for digital assets was about 8%, which is right at the beginning of the S-curve normally. Do you have any thoughts on how this could impact the legacy financial sector?

[Aya Alshahwany]

I don't have any research off the top of my head right now about blockchain and how that affects consumers. I think PIAC's position is always that the most stringent protections should be in place for consumers, especially for things like blockchain, where, as we've seen in some high-profile cases, it's not always certain that you will get a return on your investment. So, for that, we would just say that it has to be very well in place that the consumer liability is going to be limited and that someone will have their back if something goes wrong with those things.

[Geoff White]

I would caution this committee not to rely on the promise of open banking and blockchain to solve the debt crisis in Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

I was referring to it more as a payment mechanism than as an investment opportunity, and stablecoins are not an investment per se.

[Geoff White]

Understood.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

Thank you very much.

Thank you, all, for your time and your participation here at this committee.

There's one last thing, colleagues. When we come back from the constituency week, we'll be pursuing this study. We still have at least two meetings on this.

Thank you very much. The meeting is adjourned.