Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask a couple of questions of the parliamentary secretary to the finance minister.
One of the amendments to the bill allows foreign banks to branch directly into Canada. I do not disagree with that. It is a good thing. It helps increase the number of service providers. It increases choice which should lead to more efficiency and lower cost of services.
I would like to ask the hon. member, on the other side of the coin, has the government addressed the Canadian banks' concerns regarding what they need? What is the government doing to help our banks compete in foreign markets?
Foreign banks are now allowed to come in here. What have the big banks, if anything, said to the finance committee with respect to their expansion abroad? What has the government done there? That is one question.
The second question I would like him to touch on is with respect to tied selling. In the press release that the government issued, it said that it would introduce tied selling safeguards. I do not think he would argue that there is a difference between tied selling and cross selling, and that one is good and yet the other we have to be careful about. I know that even in my intervention I used terminology which is difficult to understand. If we do not go slowly it is difficult to convey the message we are trying to pass along to consumers.
What specific protection is the government providing for consumers, as the bill stands now? What are the safeguards against tied selling? I assume the member is also against allowing the big banks to do it.