Mr. Speaker, Canadian banks are reporting enormous profits. Great. Shareholders are happy. Banks pay taxes and so do their shareholders. The government has also imposed a 12.5 per cent surtax on the banks. So far, so good.
What I, however, find indecent, prohibitive, shocking, even outrageous, are the interest rates charged by the banks on consumers' credit card balances as well as their service charges on banking transactions.
The government's role is to protect users from this kind of shameless exploitation. Bankers should be called to order. This calls for some serious reflection on the part of these powerful bankers and the government.