Mr. Speaker, that is a question in which a large number of Canadians have an interest.
The government believes that consumers are best served by an environment where financial institutions compete for business and where consumers have access to adequate information.
With regard to service charges, federal financial institutions have to disclose all fees applicable to an account at the time of opening an account. When there is a change in any fees they must give at least 30 days' notice. That is a requirement of federal legislation. I understand that Canadian banks charge substantially lower service changes than U.S. banks for comparable services.
The government is also working with the provinces to improve the consistency of legislation on the cost of consumer borrowing so that the consumer will have better information.
Finally, in our financial institution legislation that is going to be reviewed, we are looking very carefully at consumer issues.