Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm going to turn to Ms. Syal and her colleague from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada.
Professor Syal, I want to hear from you because I know you're a behavioural scientist. I get the feeling that credit card companies, in their marketing and in their way of misleading Canadians and Quebeckers, are exploiting all the vulnerabilities of the human brain by making people believe they can buy all kinds of things for immediate gratification. They certainly don't advertise all the costs resulting from credit card purchases. We had an example of this at committee last Monday, when representatives of Mastercard Canada actually came to tell us that the reward programs offered by credit card companies and banks were in no way paid for by consumers, either directly or indirectly.
I have a two-part question for you. You'll have a minute or a minute and a half to answer it.
First, do you think the credit card companies are doing enough to properly inform consumers of the costs associated with their products?
Second, do you think measures should be taken to ensure that credit cards divulge their fees differently? Perhaps through regulations, we could ensure that, when a purchase is made using a credit card, the bill indicates all the related hidden costs, including interchange fees and transaction fees. Do you think this would help Canadians and Quebeckers make better financial decisions when using credit cards?