Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions on the same subject, both from citizens of Canada within my riding, one from the employees and their families of A.M. Ford in Trail, one from the employees and their families of Kalawsky GMC in Castlegar.
The petitioners point out the right to lease automobiles would provide unfair competitive advantage to Canada's banks because of their privileged access to consumer credit and loan funding as well as confidential bank-client financial records.
Auto leasing by banks would likely increase unemployment in local communities and effectively decrease, not increase, competitive options for Canadians.
They therefore call on the Government of Canada not to allow the Canada banking sector to get into the automobile leasing industry.