Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member opposite for his work on the bill. He has been tireless in his efforts at the finance committee. Once again he is trying to bring forward amendments in the House which I am sure he thinks will improve the bill.
We have taken a very long time to look at the needs of the financial services sector and to respond. Major amendments were introduced in 1992. Up to that time it had been traditional to amend the Bank Act and related statutes in the sector every 10 years. Because of the nature of the changes introduced in 1992 it was decided to review those changes in five years, in 1997.
Consultations were conducted. A white paper was issued. Discussions were held on the white paper. Hearings were held by the finance committee of the House of Commons and by the Senate banking committee. The government took time to reflect on the consultations and legislation issued. It has been debated in the House. It was again debated at committee. We now find ourselves at this stage very close to moving forward with what is essentially a bill that does some minor tinkering with financial services statutes because of the major overhaul that was done. The conclusion the government came to was that many of the changes put in place in 1992 were still being absorbed by the sector. It would be unfair to Canadians and unfair to the sector to once again make major changes. The bill before us today deals with a host of issues responsive to needs to make the sector more efficient, more accountable and more responsive to the concerns consumers have addressed.
I digress for a moment to say the government announced the creation of a task force on financial services to look ahead to the 21st century and to ask some fundamental questions about the shape of the sector for the next century. How will it continue to serve the interests of Canadians while continuing to grow and prosper? How will it help enhance the opportunities for jobs and growth? What powers are required? What realities will the industry face?
We cannot sit back and simply say what we have will always be good enough. The world changes whether we like it or not. Competitive factors are there whether we like it or not. Our financial services sector, a major engine of employment and investment, requires that the government take the time-and through the task force it is doing so-to ensure the sector is poised to deal with the challenges of the next century.
The sector is often maligned in the House because it is misunderstood. That is not to say there is not fair criticism. There certainly is. We heard a great deal of it in the committee, which was quite legitimate, as is true of any business sector. It is a major employer, particularly the banks, of millions and millions of Canadians through their RRSPs and their company pensions. Sometimes we forget that.
Motions Nos. 2, 4 and 6 in the second group relate to the issue of tied selling. We heard much about tied selling before the finance committee during the consultation stage when we were considering the white paper. Allegations have been made that certain financial institutions engage in tied selling and that the legislative provisions which currently exist in the financial services laws are insufficient to deal with the problem.
The committee and the government concluded that as yet there is insufficient evidence of the existence of tied selling as it has been described to us by certain parties. Therefore the government took a decision recently to invite the finance committee of the House of Commons to engage in a detailed study of tied selling in the financial services sector. That study will take place over the next year. In the interim while the study is going on, the government has indicated that it expects each participant or each industry group in the financial services sector to develop internal guidelines to deal with tied selling practices in this area. The government certainly hopes that a self-regulatory regime will develop in that sector. We certainly want to give it time to happen.
The hon. member opposite, knowing the party he represents, does not want government to rush in to regulate and not necessarily help the situation. We are giving the industry time because the industry has said: "We can address the problem. Let us address it". We are saying: "We will stand back and let you do that". We will also look at the whole area through the good work of the finance committee in the year ahead.
To facilitate that we have proposed that a new tied selling provision, which had been proposed in the legislation originally tabled before the House, be suspended and not be proclaimed in force until a certain date in the future.
In the interim the existing tied selling provision, whether adequate or inadequate, will remain in place so that we are not left with no provision whatsoever in the Bank Act dealing with tied selling.
The government looks forward to hearing from the finance committee of the House of Commons with respect to its recommendations about the tied selling provision, what should be reflected in regulations under that provision, what activity should be described as acceptable and what activity should be prohibited.
We are mindful of the experience of our neighbours to the south in the United States where there are extensive provisions dealing with tied selling and carve outs of acceptable activity. We do not want to inadvertently take away from consumers the opportunity to
benefit from relationships that can happen in the market by just an outright prohibition at this point.
While we appreciate the member's interest in the area, his concern for consumers and for the efficient functioning of the sector, we think we have the best situation of all. We have proposed the new tied selling provision and suspended it. It will be proclaimed in force. The government at that point will have the benefit of seeing how the self-regulatory regime works and the benefit of extensive study of the subject of tied selling throughout the financial services sector by the finance committee. I am sure the hon. member opposite will co-operate in the work of the finance committee.
On behalf of the government I urge hon. members, as I did with respect to the first group, to reject these motions.